Said Iqbal: Draft Employment Protection Bill offers greater protection to workers
“After studying it, we found that this draft Employment Protection Bill is far better than the Omnibus Law. In several respects, it is even more advanced than Law Number 13 of 2003,” said Labour Party President and KSPI President Said Iqbal in a statement in Jakarta on Monday (7/9).
The Coalition of Labour Party Trade Unions (KSP-PB) and the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) have commended several advances in the draft Employment Protection Bill drawn up by the working committee of Commission IX of the House of Representatives (DPR RI), as it is generally considered to provide greater protection for workers.
Said Iqbal explained that the draft combines a number of provisions from Law Number 13 of 2003, rulings of the Constitutional Court, and the positive provisions of the Job Creation Law.
Among the advances are arrangements for the Loss of Work Insurance scheme (Jaminan Kehilangan Pekerjaan), compensation payments for fixed-term contract (PKWT) workers, and criminal penalties for employers who fail to pay workers’ entitlements.
The draft also adopts a number of provisions from government regulations and ministerial regulations on employment that have been found to work well in practice.
“The good things must be maintained and strengthened. However, provisions that reduce worker protection must be corrected,” he added.
Despite welcoming these advances, KSP-PB believes there are still a number of matters that must be improved and added. One of these is the scope of the definition of workers, which is considered still too oriented towards manufacturing workers.
According to Said Iqbal, the Employment Protection Bill must provide certainty of protection for journalists, education and university workers, medical workers, ship crews, seafarers, creative workers, digital platform workers, online motorcycle taxi drivers, and other groups of workers with distinctive employment relationships.
“We must not remain trapped in the notion that workers are only manufacturing workers. What about journalists, university workers, medical workers, ship crews, content creators, and digital platform workers? They all work and must be protected,” he said.
KSP-PB and the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions attended a public hearing (RDPU) with the Working Committee on the Employment Protection Bill of Commission IX of the DPR.
During the hearing, KSP-PB submitted a comparative draft of the Employment Protection Bill, which was prepared as a legislative initiative of the DPR.
Said Iqbal said the KSP-PB comparative draft focuses primarily on ten strategic issues: wages, termination of employment, severance pay, outsourced labour, fixed-term contract (PKWT) workers, working hours and rest periods, protection of female workers, foreign workers, criminal penalties, and the Loss of Work Insurance scheme and compensation for contract workers.
“KSP-PB, including KSPI within it, is presenting this comparative draft as a contribution to deepen and strengthen the articles of the Employment Protection Bill,” he added.