Labor leaders reject govt decision on minimum wages

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)