Media groups lack union representation

Media groups lack union representation

Tony Hotland
Jakarta

Despite widespread coverage of labor rights and trade unions by
the press, it is a tad ironic that almost no mass media companies
have employee unions.

Research by the Alliance of Independent Journalists last year
found that out of over 1,000 press companies nationwide, only
three had trade unions registered with the Ministry of Manpower
and Transmigration.

"They were SCTV in Jakarta, Waspada in Medan, and the Surya
Group in Surabaya," said Jajang Djamaluddin on Thursday.

When contacted by The Jakarta Post, however, SCTV said that
its trade union had been dissolved, but they refused to say why.

The scarcity of trade unions in the industry, said Jajang, was
mostly the result of an immense fear on the part of company
management over a possibility that their power could be
undermined.

"They also worry that such organization of employees would
waste too much time and effort complaining about greater
benefits, while distracting the employees from their duties,"
said Jajang.

The study also found that 28 media groups had "quasi-unions",
which were informal organizations without legal status.

Registered trade unions are entitled to question decisions
made by the management and to solicit support from the manpower
ministry for advocacy and mediation.

Unlike registered trade unions, informal employee
organizations can only act as informal mediators between the
management and the employees.

"Many of these informal organizations do very little. Unless,
a critical event occurs such as mass dismissals or bankruptcy,"
Jajang said.

He added that most of the quasi-unions emerged after the 1998
economic crisis when many companies were forced to shut down.

Jajang said the establishment of a legal trade union in a
company would be easy to achieve since it could pave the way for
the enactment of a joint working agreement.

With such an agreement, employees and employers could work in
coordination when drawing up the rights and obligations of each
party. "Should any party violate the agreement, it would have
legal and recognized rights for litigation," he said.