Tangerang workers to see 15% increase in minimum wage

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.