New minimum wages panned by NGOs

New minimum wages panned by NGOs

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) and the
Information System and Legal Education Institute (Sisbikum) have
urged workers to reject the new regional minimum wages, saying
the level was too low and against international standards.

Chief of LBH's labor division Surya Tjandra said the new
monthly minimum wages that would take effect on April 1 were
unrealistic amid current economic conditions and tantamount to
labor exploitation.

"The increase by an average of 25 percent is not a real hike
and it will be enough only to cover the inflation rate," he said
in a statement on Tuesday.

"It is not based on a deep concern for the poor condition of
workers and of their families."

The Ministry of Manpower announced on Monday the regional
minimum wages would be raised between 15 percent and 55 percent.

The province of Aceh recorded the biggest increase of nearly
55 percent, with the minimum wage raised from Rp 171,000 to Rp
265,000.

The lowest increases were in Bali where wage levels in the two
regions in the area were raised about 14.6 percent, from Rp
187,000 to Rp 214,300 and Rp 166,000 to Rp 190,300.

Tjandra said employers continually justified their resistance
to raising wages by citing difficult economic conditions and
small profit margins.

He dismissed the arguments and said most companies were not
forthcoming about their revenues or plans for expansion.

Resistance to raising wages, he added, would only serve to
keep workers and their families in a perpetual state of poverty.

Tjandra urged the government to establish a regulation which
would set a maximum annual profit which could be taken by a
company, while the remaining revenue should be dispensed to
workers through a better remuneration system.

He urged workers and labor unions to reject the new regional
minimum wages because they failed to meet needs and expectations.

"To be fair, a renegotiation should be done involving as many
workers and labor unions as possible," he said.

Sisbikum's director Ariest Merdeka Sirait said the institute
did not condone the government-sanctioned minimum wage system in
the first place as it contradicted with International Labor
Organization (ILO) Convention No. 115 on minimum wages.

"The regional minimum wage also does not reflect workers' real
needs. With such a bad remuneration system, labor exploitation
will never end."

He argued that as stipulated by the ILO convention which
Indonesia ratified in 1981, the government should include factors
such as obtaining clean water, education, health care, social
security, family needs, shelter and clothing as components in
setting the minimum wage.

"If the government and employers are consistent with the ILO
convention, the monthly minimum wages should be between Rp
500,000 and Rp 750,000 at the lowest," he said.

He added that staff employed at his institute were paid
between Rp 750,000 and Rp 1 million per month. (rms)