JP/4/LABOR

JP/4/LABOR

Judgeship
hopefuls seek
decent salary

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

Although the new labor court system will not be set up until next
year, prospective candidates in line for judgeships in the
courts, which will hear and adjudicate upon industrial relations
disputes, have expressed concerns about the possibility of low
salaries.

"The number one concern among us is remuneration," said Sinfua
Zebua, a candidate nominated by an industry group, on the
sidelines of a training course organized by the International
Labor Organization (ILO) here on Thursday.

"If the remuneration is too low, there will be a temptation to
accept bribes, which will obviously prejudice the independence of
the court."

Gandi Sugandi, the director of the Industrial Disputes
Settlement Bureau at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration,
said that the salaries for non-career judges, who will sit in the
courts full time, were still being discussed.

"The actual amount is still confidential," he said.

Another participant in the course, Frans, suggested that labor
court judges receive basic salaries of at least Rp 5 million
(around US$500) per month.

"I've heard the government is planning to pay the judges Rp
2.5 million per month, which is entirely unacceptable. The
industry side has proposed a salary of not less than Rp 5
million," he said.

A candidate nominated by a labor union, who requested
anonymity, said that the government should not just preach about
judicial independence and impartiality, while at the same time
refused to pay adequate salaries.

"Obviously, if the salary is too low, we'll take whatever we
can get in bribes," he said. "We would be completely insane not
to."

The Supreme Court has been attempting to reform the judiciary
in order to rid it of corruption. A blueprint that has been drawn
up to map out these reforms proposes that district court judges
receive a monthly starting salary of Rp 5 million.

Jane Hodges, an ILO labor specialist, agreed that the labor
court judges would have to be properly remunerated if the new
courts were to function as intended.

"There will be a potential for corruption if they are poorly
paid, which will lead to a lack of confidence in the system,"
said Hodges.

The new courts, which will start sitting next year, will
replace the current industrial relations dispute settlement
committee system.

Under this system, all labor disputes are brought before a
tripartite committee consisting of workers, employers and the
government, which holds veto power through the Ministry of
Manpower and Transmigration.

Cases in the labor courts will be heard by panels consisting
of one career judge and two non-career judges, one each from the
employers' side and the labor side.

The new courts, which must hand down a decision within 50 days
of the coming of the dispute before the court, is expected to
accelerate adjudications in labor disputes, which currently can
take up to five years to resolve, and thus reduce the backlog of
outstanding cases.

The three-day training course was attended by 42 Indonesian
judgeship candidates and Timor Leste judges. The Indonesian
participants are among 200 candidates for positions in the first
provincial labor courts to be set up in Jakarta, Banten and West
Java.

An organizer said a number of Indonesian career judges had
also been invited to attend the workshop, but had refused to come
due to the "limited per diem allowances and below-average
facilities". (002)