Megawati urges workers and employers to seek compromise
Megawati urges workers and employers to seek compromise
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri urged employers and their
employees on Saturday to exercise restraint when seeking
settlements to industrial disputes.
The President suggested that both parties sit down and talk
together to seek a favorable solution that would leave nobody to
feel they had lost out.
"Pragmatism, a realistic attitude is needed to deal with
disputes. Temper and violence will only block every avenue to a
settlement," Megawati told thousands of workers in Bandar
Lampung, the capital city of Lampung province.
Former minister of manpower and transmigration Al-Hilal Hamdi
amended pro-labor Ministerial Decree No. 150/2000 on May 4 last
year which was issued by his predecessor Bomer Pasaribu.
The amendments scaled back the amount of compensation, service
and severance pay given to resigning, retiring or dismissed
workers.
The revocation led to demonstrations and a number of violent
labor rallies in East and West Java.
Under Decree No. 150/2000, employers are obliged to provide
severance payment for dismissed workers, including those who are
fired for major violations and crimes, as well as service
payments for resigning and retiring workers. It also specifies
the amount of the severance and service payments based on the
length of the particular worker's employment.
In exchange the government issued Decree No. 78/2001 after
protests by local and foreign investors against the pro-labor
decree.
According to Decree No. 78/2001, workers who resign will only
receive the compensation.
The President asserted that all parties should place national
interests above all else.
"Now that we are suffering from economic crisis, we should not
be engaged in wasteful disputes. Instead, we should work
together, exploit our potential to lift the country out of the
crisis," she said, as quoted by Antara.
Megawati reminded that long-standing disputes between
employees and employers bring losses to both parties.
"Nobody benefits from industrial disputes," she stressed.
She called on both parties to be prepared to sacrifice some of
their interests for the sake of a settlement.
"It is unfair to demand sacrifices from the other party,
therefore both sides must be willing to sacrifice their self
interests to reach a win-win solution," she said.
The function was held to commemorate the anniversary of the
All-Indonesia Workers Union Federation (FSPSI) and Indonesia's
Labor Day.
Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea and
Governor of Lampung Oemarsono were among those present at the
gathering.
A series of protests staged by trade unions in state companies
PT Semen Gresik, PT Semen Padang, PT Telkom and railway operator
PT Kereta Api Indonesia have marked a new trend of relations
between employees and employers. Instead of demanding better pay,
they have begun to protest government policies.
Last month, Megawati canceled a meeting with workers of PT
Semen Gresik, who demanded the government drop a plan to sell the
company's assets to foreign firms.
Megawati said that respect for the law was key to reach a fair
and just settlement in industrial disputes.
"If everybody heeded the law, there wouldn't be industrial
disputes," she said.