RI yet to implement ILO declaration
RI yet to implement ILO declaration
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has yet to implement the International
Labor Organization (ILO) Declaration on fundamental principles of
labor, an official said on Wednesday.
"ILO highly respects the Indonesian government for ratifying
all the fundamental conventions of the declaration in 1998. This
is a signal of Indonesia's political will to adopt the universal
rights of workers," executive director of the Geneva-based
International Labor Organization Kari Tapiola said.
He said Indonesia was the first Asian country to ratify the
declaration.
"However, due to the economic crisis, Indonesia has yet to
implement the principles in the ILO Declaration," he told a joint
media briefing at a three-day seminar on trade unions and the ILO
Declaration.
Present at the media conference were secretary-general of the
ASEAN Trade Union Council (ATUC) Zainal Rampak and director-
general for Industrial Relation and Labor Standard of the
Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration Syaufii Syamsuddin.
The seminar, being held from Wednesday to Friday, is focusing
on workers' freedom of association and rights to collective
bargaining, the elimination of all forced or compulsory labor,
the abolition of child labor, and the elimination of
discrimination in the workplace.
Tapiola said the economic crisis which hit the Asian region
had caused some 5 million people to lose their jobs.
"The crisis has weakened the bargaining position of workers
and labor unions.
"It has also weakened small and medium-scale enterprises," he
said.
He said ILO would provide assistance to Indonesian in
establishing the procedure and legislation needed for the
implementation of the declaration.
"However, the problem also lies in the abundance of labor
unions in today's reform era, compared to the single labor union
during the New Order regime," Tapiola said.
To date, Indonesia has 35 federated labor unions, 135
nonfederated labor unions and more than 11,000 company labor
unions.
"We do not know if the unions truly represent the workers. But
we are here to help Indonesia make its labor unions more
effective," Tapiola said.
He said ILO had studied the different models of labor unions
in Asia.
"Unfortunately, there was no single model that was fit to be
applied here. However, we are committed in helping Indonesia," he
said.
Meanwhile, Syaufii Syamsuddin said labor strikes were a
problem.
"Many workers have tried to use strikes to intimidate their
employers even before any negotiations were made.
"They also strike without following procedures stipulated in
the manpower legislation," Syaufii said.
He cited the move taken by employees of Shangri-La Hotel who
went on strike during the recent holiday season of Christmas,
Idul Fitri, and New Year.
"Staging strikes should be the workers' last resort, after
negotiations with employers fail," Syaufii said.
However, Syaufii said, the ILO convention could not protect
Indonesian housemaids working abroad.
"Indonesian housemaids working in Saudi Arabia are legally
unprotected because the Saudi government does not have provisions
for housemaids in its legislation," Syaufii said.
"Housemaids are considered nonformal workers, compared to
formal workers, such as those working in oil production firms,
who are protected by the International manpower regulation,"
Syaufii said.
Zainal Rampak admitted that in many cases, employers had
ignored workers' demands.
"It's understandable if workers go on strike when their
demands are ignored.
"But, we can learn from labor unions in Malaysia and Singapore
on how to settle disputes with employers," Rampak said. (02)