Latief plans to blacklist firms

Latief plans to blacklist firms

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief announced
yesterday his intention to blacklist companies who are
insensitive or who continue to violate or ignore labor laws.

President Soeharto agreed with the plan, Latief told reporters
after meeting with the head of state at Bina Graha presidential
office yesterday.

Among those to be blacklisted are companies that fail to pay
their workers the minimum wage, those that do not pay workers the
13th month's salary entitlement, and those that deny workers
their legal rights.

The President, according to Latief, felt that many labor
conflicts that had political implications occurred because of
failure of the companies' managements to comply with labor laws.

He did not specify the purpose of the blacklist other than to
say its objective is to "build the morality and ethics of
Indonesian entrepreneurs."

The minister, himself a former businessman, appears to be
raising the ante in his battle to force employers to comply with
labor laws.

He said his office is drafting a new labor law to strengthen
the legal protection of workers against abuses by employers.

The new law, he said, will carry penalties harsher than the
three-months' imprisonment and Rp 100,000 fine stipulated in the
current legislation. "Hopefully, we can present the bill to the
House of Representatives this year," he said.

Latief reported to the President about the implementation of
the government's new regulation obliging companies to pay their
workers an extra month's salary ahead of the Idul Fitri holiday.

The minister, who went on a field trip to various cities over
the past week, said only 24 labor disputes over the Idul Fitri
bonus were registered this year, well down from 78 cases last
year. "This is relatively small given that there are over 150,000
companies in all the country."

Latief said there should be no excuses for companies not to
pay the Idul Fitri bonus because they have had ample time, since
September, to prepare and make the necessary calculations.

On the objection by a group of textile companies concerning
the hike in the minimum wage starting in April, Latief also
rejected it as groundless.

He pointed out that based on his office's calculations, wages
make up 13 percent of costs of textile manufacturers. The bulk of
the costs, around 78 percent, goes towards raw materials.

This means that a hike in wages should not affect their
overall costs by too much, he said. (emb)