Labor body designed to protect workers ...

Labor body designed to protect workers ...

By Ridwan M. Sijabat

JAKARTA (JP): The existing labor committee has earned a dubious reputation for backing companies' decisions to dismiss employees in the name of defending workers' interests.

The Central Committee for the Settlement of Labor Conflicts, better known by its Indonesian acronyms, P4P, has earned its negative image largely because it provides companies a convenient shield when they fire workers.

What few people realize is that, had it not been for the committee, there could have been many more dismissals in this country.

P4P chairman Yunus Shamac said the committee was established to protect workers against arbitrary dismissals.

Every proposal to dismiss workers that reaches the committee is thoroughly checked, and the request is only granted after the firm making it fulfills all the conditions.

In the case of massive retrenchment of workers, the committee will insist on having the company's books audited independently. Permission is not granted until after the committee is satisfied that the company is having severe financial problems, or on the verge of bankruptcy.

Even if the company finally gets the green light for the dismissals, the committee will also want to make sure that the workers are properly compensated, he said.

The committee consists of 30 members. Ten are representatives of employers, 10 are representatives of the union and 10 are from government agencies. They all serve for five-year terms.

Although it is a tripartite board, the presence of government officials tips the balance in favor of workers, Yunus said.

Under the central committee, there are the regional boards, known as P4D, also comprising 30 members each. These boards try to settle the cases locally. If the parties in conflict are not satisfied with a P4D ruling, they can appeal to the P4P.

Yunus, a senior manpower ministry official, who was appointed to the post by President Soeharto last year, says it is the committee's duty to uphold Pancasila Industrial Relations.

This concept calls for harmonious relations between management and workers, and that any conflict should be resolved through deliberation and consensus.

"The P4P was established chiefly to protect the rights of workers," Yunus told The Jakarta Post.

He said the workers are always in a weak position in facing management. Many employers behave feudally and treat their workers like slaves, he noted.

Although the committee is intended to resolve all kinds of labor conflicts that cannot be settled internally, almost all of the cases that have came to its desk have been filed by companies seeking to dismiss workers, Yunus said.

Rarely has the committee received cases filed by workers or their unions.

Yunus said that during the course of his work, he found many companies filing permission to retrench workers simply to avoid having to grant the pay increases which are due. "Whenever we get such cases, the committee will reject the proposal to dismiss workers," he said.

He said all dismissals should be reported to the authorities even if the workers have voluntarily agreed to the termination of their employment. When there are objections from workers against the dismissals, the case is referred to the committee.

Yunus acknowledged that many employers have fired their workers before, or while waiting for, the P4P ruling in violation of the regulations.

By law, dismissals are only permitted once there is a final green light by the committee. In the meantime, employers must continue to pay their workers in full.

The local tripartite board works like a trial court, reviewing cases and listening to arguments from both sides of the conflict before making its ruling.

Cases that cannot be settled locally are referred to the central committee in Jakarta, which holds a similar hearing before making its decision. The central committee receives around 700 cases each year, Yunus said.

By law, the minister of manpower can veto any decision made by the P4P, but has rarely used this right.

The decision by the committee is legally binding and all parties must abide by it. The winning party can seek a court order to compel the losing party to comply.

Yunus said the labor conflict settlement bodies, both at the national and the regional levels, are feeling the pressure because the number of industrial disputes are increasing every year, and many of these are finding their way to the tripartite committees.

Figures from the All Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) confirm the trend toward a rising number of industrial disputes in Indonesia. The union counted 15,000 labor conflicts in 1992; 17,000 in 1993, and 18,400 in 1994.

Yunus said the committee's size should be doubled so that it can deal with all the cases that reach its desk swiftly. At the moment, the committee can only process between 10 to 15 cases a week, when it should really clear up to 30 cases a week.

The biggest problem is the low pay of the committee members, Yunus said. He said he is paid Rp 100,000 a month, while the other members get Rp 75,000.