Manpower bill stifles growth of civil society

JAKARTA (JP): Political and legal experts strongly criticized the draft manpower bill yesterday, saying it failed to accommodate the basic rights of workers and constricted the development of civil society.

Political observer Muhammad A.S. Hikam said that, if passed without fundamental changes, the bill would repress the two basic tenets of civil society -- workers' ability to achieve self empowerment and self sufficiency.

"As one of the strategic groups in Indonesian society ... workers should have more room to struggle for their empowerment," said the political scientist from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences.

"They can contribute to strengthening democracy in society because real workers are also citizens holding authority," he said.

The government is vigorously pushing the House of Representatives to pass the bill before end of the current House term next month.

The determination to pass the bill was evident by the fact that certain legislators held meetings with government representatives at a North Jakarta hotel to discuss the bill despite the fact that the House was in recess.

The bill has come under sharp criticism from a host of sections of society and labor groups.

However legislators have indicated that the bill will pass as written.

Among the points of contention are articles concerning the right to strike and form unions.

The bill consists of 18 chapters and 159 articles and is expected to replace six ordinances and nine laws on labor affairs issued between 1887 and 1969.

It will later serve as an umbrella law for all legislation in manpower affairs.

Hikam warned that failure to pay proper attention to the laborers' rights could bring about a political situation satiated with tension.

Hikam was speaking at a one-day International Conference on Trade Union Rights in Indonesia. The conference was organized jointly by the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), and six international labor unions.

Speakers at the conference included YLBHI chairman Bambang Widjojanto, the regional president of the International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees (FIET), Joe De Bruyn, the All Indonesian Workers Association secretary-general, Andi Hisbuldin Patunru, and IMF representative Timothy Ryan.

Bambang Widjojanto warned that a national labor law which did not accommodate workers' basic rights could adversely affect national exports.

"People in developed countries are pressuring their governments to relate trade policies to the rights of workers in their bilateral and multilateral trade agreements," he said.

Almost all of the speakers insisted the government drop the current draft bill which they said violated international labor standards.

De Bruyn said the bill's repression of association, lack of right to bargain collectively and rejection of the right to strike fundamentally defied trade union rights.

"All these are fundamental trade union rights which are set in the Conventions of the International Labor Organization, and which have been widely accepted throughout the world as being a fundamental part of any democratic nation," he said.

He argued that the bill cannot protect workers in the era of globalization of which Indonesia is now very much a part. (05)