Military involvement seen hurting labor protection

Military involvement seen hurting labor protection

SURABAYA (JP): An increasingly excessive intervention by
security authorities in many labor disputes has robbed workers of
just and satisfying solutions, and of control over situations, an
activist says.

The Surabaya Legal Aid Institute's director, Indro Sugianto,
told a press conference here yesterday that military intervention
in labor conflicts had become even more marked over the past
year.

As shown during many labor demonstrations in 1997, the
presence of security personnel has became more evident. "(The
development) has made labor problems even more complicated and
more difficult to solve," he said. "Security personnel have
always reacted (to worker strikes) by charging that a
demonstration was masterminded by a third party."

The legal aid office recorded in 1997 a total of 142 labor
strikes, 10 more than last year, against employers' policy. The
demonstrations involved 100,452 workers.

Surabaya saw the most strikes with 55 occurrences, followed by
Sidoarjo with 40 and Gresik with 11. The figure excludes the
four-day strike of 40,000 workers of PT Gudang Garam cigarette
company in Kediri, and that of hundreds of employees of PT PAL
ship manufacturer.

"Sometimes, the security officers' intervention took the most
naive form," Indro said, citing the handling of a recent
demonstration held by hundreds of PT Nor Leather tannery.

The striking workers wanted to demonstrate outside the
provincial legislative council building. The police picked them
up in trucks and promised to transport them there, but instead
took them back to the factory.

"They went on with the strike, but under tight security, and
they were barred from leaving the factory site," Indro said.

Indro predicted that there would be even greater labor unrest
next year given the tighter control applied by security personnel
in conjunction with the presidential election in March.

Furthermore, "October is the time when the new Manpower Law
will come into effect and workers' interests will be harmed even
more," Indro said.

He also cited the monetary crisis that has forced
businesspeople to tighten their budgets and resort to massive
layoffs. He said that this year alone, 20 companies had dismissed
at least 7,000 workers, all citing the crisis as the reason.

"Those companies have been mismanaged for years. I believe
that next year, the number of people losing their jobs will be
even greater," he said. "These layoffs could probably take place
silently."

He pointed out that workers had tried to shoulder their share
of the burden by demanding fewer pay rises. The All-Indonesia
Workers Union Federation (SPSI) has proposed a 10.7 percent
increase in the minimum wage for next year (or Rp 146,677 monthly
wage increase) as opposed to last year's increase of 20 percent.

The government raised the minimum wage levels early this year
by 10.7 percent. The minimum wage averages 95.32 percent of the
minimum physical requirement, compared to 92.49 percent in 1996.

The minimum monthly wage for a worker in Greater Jakarta
(Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi) increased from 156,000
($68 at then rate) to Rp 172,000 ($75), while in the industrial-
designated zone of Batam wages increased to Rp 235,000 from Rp
220,500.

In East Java, the wage increase ranged from Rp 10,000 to Rp
16,500.

Indro also said that strong military intervention was also
evident in relation to environmental issues and civil and
political rights. (nur)