Maintaining livelihood

What happens if there is no harmony in the relationship between a company and its employees.

"The economic life of the nation will be in confusion," President Megawati Soekarnoputri said before thousands of workers and representatives from 30 provincial chapters of the Indonesian Labor Union (SPSI) recently.

Demonstrations by employees demanding raises were rare during the New Order era because of the low bargaining position of workers. They were practically unprotected. But in the current reform era, labor organizations in Indonesia have played an increasingly crucial role in providing protection to workers.

According to Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea, there are at least 60 labor organizations in Indonesia today. The SPSI, chaired by Jacob, is the biggest labor organization in Indonesia at present. This organization now has 5.1 million members from 12,800 companies in the country.

These labor organizations generally have the same goal, namely struggling for justice and improving the fate and welfare of their members. But the increased bargaining position of workers has frightened businesspeople and would-be investors.

How can businesspeople pay their debts when they have to face demonstrations by their workers? Certainly, some businesspeople are very stingy about paying their employees.

In responding to the President's remarks, labor organizations and labor advocacy agencies should contribute to the maintenance of a harmonious relationship between employees and employers by enhancing the professionalism of workers, improving the negotiating skills of workers and widening their perspective.

These steps are required to avoid the impression that the establishment of labor organizations has been engineered by certain interest groups to be used as political vehicles or as a means of enriching themselves.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta