Military to stay out of labor disputes, official says

Military to stay out of labor disputes, official says

JAKARTA (JP): A government spokesman gave assurances yesterday
that the Armed Forces (ABRI) will never intervene in labor
disputes, which remain the domain of the Ministry of Manpower.

Fachri Taharuddin, the chief spokesman of the Ministry of
Manpower, said ABRI will only be brought in if a dispute gets out
of control and is a threat to national stability.

Fachri said that the workers' protest which turned into a full
scale riot in Medan, North Sumatra, last month was a situation in
which the intervention of the military was justified.

His statement was apparently intended to subdue criticisms by
legislators and labor leaders for remarks made by an ABRI senior
officer early this week.

The remarks, made by ABRI's Chief of Socio-Political Affairs
Lt. Gen. Hartono, suggested that Bakorstanas, the internal
security agency, could be deployed to intervene in labor
disputes.

The critics saw the remarks to be contradictory to the
government's decision last January. At that point, they decided
to revoke a manpower ministerial decree which allowed companies
to summon the military to quell labor strikes.

Asked to comment on Hartono's remarks, Fachri said it was
essentially a suggestion because he was then speaking at a
seminar discussing industrial relations.

"You should know where the general made the statement," he
said. "He was only offering a suggestion at a seminar on
industrial relations. This seminar was grappling with the problem
of whether it is necessary to deploy a military or security
approach in trying to solve labor problems."

Labor observers noted that, in the aftermath of the Medan
riot, the local military sent its officers to many factories to
put pressure on management to pay their workers at least the
minimum wage stipulated by the government.

ABRI, however, has been the target of criticism from labor
activists in the past for the way it sided with management in
labor disputes.

Fachri said that the only involvement that the military would
have in labor disputes from now on would be to simply accompany
manpower officials to ensure that all labor regulations are
complied with. (rms)