Labor suppliers at odds with govt

Labor suppliers at odds with govt

JAKARTA: The Association of Indonesian Labor Suppliers
(Apjati) has lodged a strong protest with the manpower minister
over what it sees as "intervention" in its internal affairs.

At the center of the dispute is a letter issued by the
director general for labor placement overseas Soeramsihono, in
which the ministry asserted it was not responsible for Apjati's
policy charging each worker sent to Saudi Arabia US$11.

Apjati chairman Husein Alaydrus said that the money was used
to help workers who suffered difficulties in Saudi Arabia as many
had experienced.

"We demand that the letter be revoked immediately," he said.

Soeramsihono said in his letter that the government disagreed
with Apjati's policy of mandatory payment of the fee before job
seekers could get their legal documents.

Apjati has earlier explained that the fee had been approved by
the Indonesian embassy in Riyadh and will be effective for four
years.

But in reality, only 30 percent of Indonesian job seekers in
Saudi Arabia seek legalization of their documents with the
embassy or the consulate in Jeddah, prompting the ministry to
drop the fee policy. -- Antara