Tangerang workers to see 15% increase in minimum wage

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

Tangerang's Regional Wage Council (DPD), a tripartite team in charge of assessing wages and conditions for workers in the area, has decided to increase the minimum wage there by 15 percent in 2006.

"It means the workers will receive a Rp 106,500 increase from the current Rp 693,500 starting January next year," Apon Suryana, head of the regental Manpower Agency, who leads the team, said on Saturday.

Apon said that the new wage would still need to be approved by Tangerang Regent Ismet Iskandar and Banten deputy governor Ratu Atut Choisiah before it came into effect on Jan. 1.

He said that the agreement over the new wage was reached in the team's fifth plenary meeting held on Thursday.

Aside from manpower agency officials, members of the team include workers and businesspeople.

He said that four plenary meetings held earlier to discuss the new wage were attended by representatives of local business association (Apindo), the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), workers associations and administration officials. These meetings often ended in a deadlock, he said.

Apon said the 15 percent increase had been adjusted to the increases of fuel prices, consumer goods and inflation. The new wage for Tangerang was not much different from those in other cities in Greater Jakarta, he said.

"We understand that workers have demanded an increase of over 30 percent, but most firms here make products that require a lot of workers. If we accommodate their demand, we are afraid that many firms will close down within three months and massive layoffs will be inevitable," he said.

Workers in the regency had earlier held several rallies to press the administration to raise their minimum wage by more than 30 percent.

Apon hoped that all parties would accept the decision so that investment in the regency continued to grow.

He said that should businessmen still have objections to the wage, they should submit their objections to the DPD, including their company's financial balance sheets audited by independent public accountants.

Meanwhile, the Tangerang Municipality DPD failed to reach an agreement on the minimum living costs in the area last Friday.

"We have not reached an agreement on the minimum living costs in the municipality, let alone decide on the new wage," said municipal DPD chairman Adang Turwana, who is also head of the municipal Manpower Agency.

He said should the DPD fail to reach an agreement on the minimum living costs by Sunday, he would hand over the issue to Tangerang Mayor Wahidin Halim.

"Let the mayor decide on the minimum living costs and the new wage," he said.

In the fifth PDD plenary meeting on Friday, workers were still insisting on a 100-percent increase from the current wage, while businessmen had only agreed on a 15 percent hike, he said.