N. Sumatra tobacco workers threaten boycott over pay
N. Sumatra tobacco workers threaten boycott over pay
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan
Protesting plantation workers in North Sumatra have threatened
to block an upcoming tobacco auction if their state-owned
employer does not increase wages.
About 21,000 employees of PT Perkebunan Nasional (PTPN) II
have accused the firm of paying less than the legal minimum wage.
More than 800 workers staged a rally on Wednesday at the
Benteng ground in the provincial capital of Medan to demand
better payment.
The protesters, from the regencies of Medan, Langkat and Deli
Serdang, are paid Rp 279,000 each per month, though the
provincial government set the minimum wage last November at Rp
464,000 per month.
Union leader Josem Ginting said if PTPN did not raise wages,
the employees would join with German workers to boycott a tobacco
auction planned for May in Bremen, Germany.
"We have coordinated with an alliance of labor groups in
Germany to boycott the Deli tobacco auction if the demand by PTPN
II's workers is not fulfilled," Josem, leader of the firm's
Merdeka (independent) union, told The Jakarta Post.
Josem is being tried in the Medan District Court for allegedly
beating a PTPN employee on November 16, 2000 while organizing a
protest.
He said the protesters would step up demonstrations to keep
the pressure for wage rises on PTPN.
He said the union's demands for higher wages had been rejected
at several meetings with the company's directors since 2000.
Paiman, 42, a PTPN worker from Langkat, said he received Rp
250,000 in take-home pay each month, after insurance and other
levies were taken out.
He said the low wage made it difficult for his family to
survive. "I often owe money to friends or others to cover the
lack of my family's living cost," Paiman said. "Life is so bitter
to me."
Head of the North Sumatra manpower and transmigration office
A. Aziz Zein Gumay said PTPN was breaching labor laws.
Aziz threatened to punish PTPN if it failed to comply with
minimum wages, and promised to conduct a financial audit of the
company.
Aziz told the Post that the matter was being handled by his
office's labor dispute settlement committee.
"We will sanction the PTPN II if it does not pay the workers
in line with the province's set wage."
Head of PTPN's human relations division, Legino, denied the
company had broken the law.
But he refused to explain why the workers were paid less than
the official wage. "It's the authority of the company's board of
directors," he said.
Legino said the workers received several allowances, including
food, electricity and housing, on top of their pay packets.