Labor strikes excessive, says officer

JAKARTA (JP): A senior military official in East Java says that increasingly frequent worker demonstrations have become "excessive" and might be masterminded by "certain parties."

Chief of the East Java Brawijaya regional military command Maj. Gen. Imam Utomo was quoted by Antara as saying in Surabaya yesterday that the demonstrations over minimum wage ruling were "unnatural". He promised to investigate the matter further.

He cited protests by workers of PT Pakerin, a paper company, who demanded that they be paid for 35 days a month.

He also cited demonstrations by workers demanding an increase in their wages despite the fact that their companies have applied for government permission to delay the implementation of the new minimum wage ruling.

He acknowledged that the workers might be protesting out of jealousy at other workers who had already got a raise. He said the companies' managers should have anticipated the possibility of unrest among workers because of the raise.

He said he had suggested that the office of the Coordinating Minister for Industry and Trade Hartarto take steps to anticipate possible demonstrations among workers in companies which have been allowed to delay paying minimum wages.

He also urged the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce to take stern action against member companies who increase workers' wages but scrap meal or transport allowances.

"But I hope the workers don't protest too much. Instead, they should go and air their grievances with the All-Indonesian Workers' Union Federation or the Ministry of Manpower," he said.

"We will help them to get their employers to listen to their requests," Imam added.

A number of major cities in Indonesia have recently seen a surge in the number of protests over the recent ministerial ruling on the daily minimum wage.

The ruling, outlined in a decree by Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief, requires companies to calculate the minimum wage paid to all workers, both permanent and temporary, at 30 days per month as opposed to 25 days under the old regulation.

The decree came into effect on April 1, just as the government was hiking daily minimum wages by an average of 10 percent. The new nationwide minimum wage level is Rp 4,072 (US$ 1.8) per day on average.

This still does not meet workers' minimum daily needs, an expert has recently said.

A total of 365 companies have requested exemption from the new ruling, citing financial difficulties. Of them, 52 have been granted permission. (31/swe)