Labor supply firms get 6-month reprieve

Labor supply firms get 6-month reprieve

JAKARTA (JP): The government has postponed the enforcement of
stricter rules regulating the lucrative but highly disorderly
business of sending Indonesian workers overseas.

The decision was announced during a meeting between Minister
of Manpower Abdul Latief and around 100 executives of manpower
supplier companies.

The new set of regulations which came into effect on Aug.1 has
been a source of complaint for the companies, and some are even
threatened with bankruptcy.

Latief in a series of decrees in February ruled that a
manpower supplier company must have a minimum paid up capital of
Rp 450 million and establish training facilities for any workers
it sends abroad. The companies must also apply for new
operational permits.

One month since these decrees came into force, not a single
manpower supplier company has complied with the regulations,
prompting Latief to summon the executives to his office
yesterday.

"This decision is made taking into consideration that not a
single permit has been issued and that the companies are not
well-prepared to work in accordance with the tighter
requirements," he said.

The decrees were introduced to instill order in the industry
which has been highly criticized for leaving Indonesian workers
stranded overseas, or subject to various forms of abuse without
legal protection.

Latief acknowledged that the government has an interest in
ensuring that the manpower supplier companies continue with their
business because the industry is recognized as a potential source
of foreign exchange earnings for the country.

Indonesia hopes to earn some three billion dollars in
remittances from workers overseas in the next five years.

Latief said at least 250 manpower supplier companies are
needed if Indonesia is to meet the target of sending around 1.25
million workers overseas in the next five years.

With the tighter regulations, he expected that up to 120
companies will be issued with permits by the end of the year and
the number will continue to increase.

The minister also warned that these companies should be
prepared to phase out the sending of unskilled workers, who still
provide the bulk of those sent overseas, and replaced them with
skilled ones.

Quotas

To ensure compliance, the government is setting quotas on the
number of unskilled workers a company may send abroad beginning
in 1995.

Next year, at least 20 percent of workers expatriated must be
skilled, and their portion rises to 40 percent in 1996, 60
percent in 1997, 80 percent in 1998 and 100 percent in 1999.

The policy of not sending unskilled workers was needed to
ensure the welfare and image of Indonesian workers abroad, he
said.

Latief suggested that instead of competing with one another,
manpower supplier companies cooperate and improve communication
between themselves. "This is a national endeavor."

He also warned that manpower supplier companies will now be
held liable for any bad treatment received by workers they send
overseas and the government will not hesitate to punish them
severely. "All companies have an absolute duty to protect
Indonesian workers overseas."

For this purpose, he said the companies must be more selective
in choosing employers or even appoint lawyers overseas to handle
any problems that workers might encounter.

"Many workers, mostly women, have complained to the government
over the irresponsible attitude of manpower supplier companies,"
he said. (rms)