Next wages meeting delayed after deadlock

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Jakarta's provincial tripartite wages council failed to reach a compromise on the planned increase of the 2005 provincial minimum wage (UMP) on Monday.

Seven representatives of the workers association threatened to walk out if the other 14 members of the council -- seven representatives of the employers association and seven from the city administration -- insisted on putting it to the vote.

"The meeting will be suspended for two or three days following our failure to reach a consensus," Wajis Mangkona, a member of the tripartite council representing the workers association, told The Jakarta Post.

It was the council's second failure to reach an agreement after Thursday's meeting, which went on until early Friday, ended with no decision being made.

Wajis claimed that representatives of the employers association and the administration insisted on voting on their proposed wage hike of Rp 711,000 (US$78.13), which is 6 percent more than this year's minimum wage of Rp 671,550. In 2003, the minimum wage was Rp 631,000.

"We opposed their proposed increase because it is far below the minimum cost of living in Jakarta, which is Rp 759,000, as stated by the government. The wage increase must be equal or slightly above the minimum cost of living, not less. That's why we are insisting on a bigger raise," Wajis said.

The government-estimated minimum cost of living is, however, less than that calculated by the Indonesian Federation of Metal Industry Unions (FSPMI) after it surveyed the prices of 43 basic commodities at 14 traditional markets. The FSPMI estimates that a worker needs at least Rp 968,134 per month to survive.

The workers have been demanding an increase up to Rp 1.2 million per month.

Indonesian Employers Association chairman Sofjan Wanandi said earlier that employers would tolerate an increase as long as it did not exceed the inflation rate in Jakarta, which is predicted to be around 6.5 percent this year.

He advised the workers association that employers would not be able to meet the workers' demand.

The Jakarta minimum wage hike will be the yardstick by which industrial areas Tangerang and Bekasi decide their wage increases.

The city manpower agency also reminded the wages council that it must accommodate the interests of both workers and employers to ensure that companies survive and provide employment.

Data from the agency shows that around 25,000 private companies in the city employ about four million people.