Minister rules out ILO mediation in dispute

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said on Friday that intervention from any international forum in the settlement of labor disputes in Indonesia was not necessary, insisting that such issues should be resolved domestically.

Addressing the management of Jakarta's Shangri-la Hotel at his office, Jacob reiterated that his ministry could still function as a mediator for any labor disputes.

"We refuse any pressure either from inside or outside the country. The most important thing is a peaceful solution to the dispute. There is no need to immediately take the matter to the International Labor Organization (ILO)," he said.

"My office is open to bridge the gaps between labor unions and the management of companies," he added.

Last week, the ILO's committee for freedom of association sent a recommendation to the government, asking Jakarta to guarantee the reemployment of dismissed Shangri-la workers and to help clarify legal complaints and assault against members of the Shangri-la Hotel Independent Workers' Union (SPMS).

The case came to the surface last year when the hotel's management dismissed and questioned SPMS members following rallies demanding a change in the management's policies regarding workers' salaries and welfare.

Hotel management took the case to court, which later ordered seven of the union's executives to pay some Rp 20.7 billion (US$2 million) in compensation for losses incurred during the rallies.

Meanwhile, 81 of the dismissed workers appealed to the management to reemploy them.

The government and the Shangri-la management are of the opinion that the ILO recommendation is not mandatory.

Muljo Rahardjo, a Shangri-la commissioner, said at Friday's meeting that they would prefer to sit down with the former workers to settle their problems.

"How can we do what the ILO has recommended because it was only a report. We cannot reemploy the former workers because there is not an acceptable argument for it," he told the forum.

Separately, labor activist Arist Merdeka Sirait said that the ILO's intervention in labor disputes was inevitable because Indonesia had accepted ILO conventions, including those on the freedom of workers to form an independent union.

"The labor disputes caused by circumvention of the union's freedom can only be solved through a political approach. Moreover, the existing mechanism doesn't have the authority to hand down sanctions against people violating the principles of the right to associate.

"There should be a labor court under the general judiciary to try labor disputes. Such a court is needed to answer the international challenge of proper treatment for workers," he said.