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.