'Minimum wage formalizes the poverty of workers'

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government's minimum wage, which fails to provide workers with sufficient means, is a legalization of labor poverty, labor activists say.

The minimum wage of Rp 426,250 (about US$42) a month for Jakarta, meant workers could only just survive as wages are calculated on the basic need for food, clothing and accommodation. Other components like health, education, communication, transportation and recreation are ignored, the National Front of the Struggle of Indonesian Workers said in a statement.

"The minimum wage or provincial wage is in fact no more than an effort to legalize labor poverty," the statement signed by the front's chairwoman Dita Indah Sari and its secretary-general Ilhamsyah.

Labor poverty was legalized by implicating various institutions related to labor, and the rationalization of the practice of our exploitive and unfair economy, the pair say.

As workers often could not survive on the minimum wage, they have to work overtime in order to survive.

"This gives an opportunity for the employers to exploit the workers...," Dita said.

They observed that even though the minimum wage is far from sufficient, many employers violate it. There are also many violations of workers' rights, such as the right to a working social security program, maternity leave, annual leave, overtime payments, and the right to unite to form unions.

Therefore, the activists say they were not surprised to learn that the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) rejected Jakarta Governor's Sutiyoso's decree to increase the minimum wage by 38.7 percents or to Rp 591,266, starting next year.

".. it's not surprising because some employers have denied workers' rights," Dita says.

Apindo's rejection was proof of the failure of law enforcement here and the efforts of the government to implement what they have decided. On the other hand, it also showed the weak bargaining power of laborers compared to business owners.

Many businesspeople claimed that they could not afford the 38.7 percent wage increase due to financial problems.

In that case, the activists said that the employers should prove it through an auditing process.

Apindo on Thursday said it objected to the 38.7 percent increase and planned to file a lawsuit against Governor Sutiyoso at the Jakarta State Administrative Court.

Sutiyoso told reporters on Friday that he was ready to face the lawsuit. He insisted that he would not review the decree and told the employers who could not afford the increase to file an objection and submit their financial reports.