Labor leaders reject govt decision on minimum wages

JAKARTA (JP): Labor leaders rejected yesterday the government's decision not to raise monthly minimum wages for 1998/1999, citing possible unrest among workers.

Chairmen of the 13 sectoral trade unions in the All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI) urged the government to reverse the decision and allow workers to directly negotiate their pay with employers.

Suradi Idris, chairman of the textile and leather workers trade union, said many employers in his sector abandoned ongoing negotiations with their workforces after Minister of Manpower Theo L. Sambuaga made the announcement on Monday. The decision was made and endorsed in a meeting between the government, representatives of the employers association, and the chairman and secretary-general of SPSI.

"Who will be responsible if workers stop working and take to the streets to demand a rise in minimum wages tomorrow or next week?" he warned.

He said workers could no longer endure the monetary crisis because their purchasing power had dropped by at least 30 percent over the last six months.

"The decision not to raise minimum wages might provoke workers to take to streets and, worse, join with the student movement demanding lower prices of basic commodities and political and economic reform," he said.

The 13 sectoral unions covering banking and insurance; cigarette, tobacco, food and beverages; metal, electronics and machines; construction and public works; pharmaceuticals and health; logging and forestry; textile and leathers; seamen; transportation; printing; publishing and press; chemicals, energy and mining; and agriculture and plantations.

Ch. David, chairman of the transportation trade union, argued most Indonesian employers would be able to raise minimum wages by 20 percent because financially trouble companies had already received permission to keep minimum wages at current levels.

He said minimum wages in the textile, electronics, cigarette and plantations sectors had been raised thanks to peaceful negotiations between employers and their workforces.

Wages in the plantation sector were raised by 16 percent, the textile sector by between 16 percent and 20 percent, the cigarette, tobacco, beverage and food sector by between 13 percent to 18 percent, and in the electronics sector by 40 percent.

David said the 13 sectoral trade unions, through their international network, would lobby the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to press the government to improve workers' welfare.

The Legal Aid Institute in Surabaya also called on the government to review its decision, saying it was a violation of human rights. The institute said workers should be adequately paid during the monetary crisis.

The sectoral trade unions also demanded the SPSI be restructured following its failure to press the government to raise minimum wage levels.

"The union should be reorganized because the present team, chaired by Datuk Bagindo, has failed to convey the sectoral trade unions' aspirations to the government, the legislative body and the Association of Indonesian Employers on a number of occasions," David said.

"The union is not a political organization. It is a labor organization that should fight for workers' interests," he said.

The union has twice been reorganized since it was founded in 1973.

The labor union, a confederation of various industrial unions, was reorganized into the All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI) in 1985. It became a federation in 1993.

Union chairman Datuk Bagindo said: "If they want restructuring, that's no problem. However, they should not make decisions in such an emotional state."

Datuk Bagindo said he could understand why the sectoral trade unions rejected the government decision and had attacked him for endorsing it. He begged, however, that they show understanding for the difficult position he was in, and why he had to endorse the decision.

"I made no personal gain through endorsing the decision, and I have not been paid for my services to the union. So, if the sectoral trade unions want to reorganize the union, they can do it," said Datuk Bagindo, who is also chairman of the logging and forestry trade union. (rms)