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.