Minister tells employers, workers to settle labor disputes bilaterally
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Alleging that the labor dispute settlement committee (P4) was plagued by corruption, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea strongly urged employers and workers to settle their industrial disputes between each other, without going to P4.
Nuwa Wea also said that dispute settlement through the committee was found to be ineffective because P4 took too much time, sometimes years, to solve industrial disputes.
"I suggest that both parties meet to reach a common agreement at the plant level. It is the best way to settle a dispute in industrial relations," he told a seminar on industrial relations here.
The minister warned employers not to ask security authorities to intervene in labor disputes, because they usually made it worse.
Under the current mechanism, the committee for labor dispute settlement at the central and regional levels could take up to six years before any legal decision can be produced. Judges who sit at the committee are also reportedly notorious for extorting employers who are implicated in disputes with their workers.
The government and the House of Representatives are currently deliberating a bill on the settlement of labor disputes that will disband the regional and central committees and replace it with an ad hoc labor court. The bill is to replace Laws No. 12/1964 and No 22/1957 on the settlement of industrial disputes.
Under the bill, all labor disputes must be settled within 115 days.
Nuwa Wea also called on the workers not to resort to strikes and demonstrations as a means to achieve their goals. "Leave those methods and embark on dialog to reach a common agreement," he said.
Director of the Jakarta Office of International Labor Organization (ILO) Alan Boulton concurred with the minister, saying that there were more benefits for all involved if disputes could be resolved at the plant level.
"Bipartite workplace cooperation ultimately will benefit the company concerned and the workers themselves," he said, adding that benign work conditions could boost productivity and welfare of the workers.
He said that there were many examples in Indonesia that discussion and negotiation leading to collective labor agreements created better relations, instead of conflict, dispute, factory closure and the inevitable loss of jobs.
In a related development, president director of state-owned social security insurance company PT Jamsostek Achmad Djunaidi took his oath of office for another three-year term with a pledge the he and his team would work hard to continue to improve the company's performance and revamp its structure in efforts to provide better service for workers and improve their social welfare.
Director of operations Djoko Sungkono was also sworn in for the next three years to complete its ongoing reorganization programs to improve the company's performance.
Sentot Widharto, chief of Jamsostek's regional office in East Java, Bali and West Nusa Tenggara, was appointed as director of human resources and general affairs to replace Bambang Purwoko while B.M. Tri Lestari, chief of the accounting division was installed as director of planning, development and information to replace Sriyono.
Widjokongko Purpoyo was appointed as director of finance to replace Lukmanul Hakim while Samuel Tobing was appointed as director of investments to replace Andy Alamsyah.
According reliable sources at the office of the minister for state-owned enterprises, Djunaidi's reappointment was a reward for the company's good performance under his leadership over the last three years.
The company's total income increased to Rp 982.6 billion (US$115 million) in 2002, up from Rp 320.6 billion in 2001 and Rp 229 billion in 2000. In 1999, Jamsostek suffered a loss of 77.2 billion.
Its assets reached Rp 21.3 trillion in 2002, up from Rp 16.5 trillion in 2001 and Rp 11.4 trillion in 2000.