Labor union defies military ban
Labor union defies military ban
JAKARTA (JP): The independent labor union SBSI will conclude its 10-day training for its activists today, held in defiance of the military who have twice disbanded it.
Muchtar Pakpahan, the chairman of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union, told The Jakarta Post by telephone yesterday that the training course proceeded as scheduled after all.
The materials discussed in the training included strategies for holding strikes and for bargaining with employers. "Workers have the right to strikes," Muchtar said.
The meeting was initially held in Sibolangit, North Sumatra, a tourist resort some 60 kilometer southeast of the capital Medan. Opened last Wednesday, it was first stopped by the military on Friday and some of its activists, including Muchtar, were briefly arrested.
The meeting resumed on Sunday, but was broken up on Monday.
On Tuesday, the activists moved the venue of the gathering to Medan and proceeded with the program.
Maj. Gen. Sedarijanto, in his capacity as chief of the North Sumatra coordinating board for stability and security (Bakorstranasda), ordered the meeting disbanded and imposed a temporary ban on the labor organization conducting its activities in the region.
Muchtar said the union has met all legal procedures for holding the meeting.
Besides, "workers have the right to stage industrial strikes. This right is guaranteed by the law and enshrined in the principles of Pancasila," he said.
"If workers are barred from staging strikes in their efforts to fight for their interests, and from seeking information about the companies' financial status, this means that the military wants workers to remain stupid," he charged.
"I'm going to sue Sedarijanto for issuing the ban," Muchtar, who is a lawyer by training, said.
The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) has said the ban violated the law and the International Labor Organization's Convention on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining.
"The ban denies the people's right to freedom of association," spokesman Hendardi said in a press release on Wednesday.
The government has repeatedly refused to recognize SBSI as a labor union, saying the organization was established by politicians and not by workers. (rms)