Labor strikes excessive, says officer
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)