The role of labor unions in Indonesia
The role of labor unions in Indonesia
JAKARTA (JP): Garment workers in a crowded industrial estate
in Kemandoran, South Jakarta, have put their collective foot
down. They want nothing more to do with labor unions, they say,
after the South Jakarta branch of the All Indonesian Workers'
Union (SPSI) "abandoned" them when the factory's management
undertook mass layoffs after a strike.
"The union at the factory lasted only two months," says Karsih
of PT Duta Busana Danastri, which formerly produced "Levi-
Strauss" jeans.
She said the union leader was promoted and now earns Rp 500
more a day than the rest of them. "She no longer speaks for her
friends," Karsih asserted.
The workers, she added, opt for a bipartite body with the same
number of representatives from the shop floor and management.
Never mind that the workers are poorly educated, she assured.
"We will pick friends who can face up to the management, even if
they only have an elementary education."
"We can really put our monthly dues of Rp 100 to good use,
while we don't know what happened to the monthly Rp 1,500 fee we
handed over to SPSI," Karsih said.
From the central board to the shop floor, the SPSI is as
criticized as ever.
Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief has now been applauded as
the workers' hero because of his firm statements to employers. He
recently told textile employers to move their factories to areas
where the minimum wage was lower. He was responding to the
Indonesian Textile Association complaint of high labor costs in
Jakarta.
The Minister's position is something new. Before, employers
who requested a delay in paying a new minimum wage could expect
their request to be met.
Coming up to the union's 22nd anniversary on Feb. 20, even
Vice President Try Sutrisno has urged SPSI to be more effective.
Minister Latief has stressed that as long as the union and the
Ministry do their jobs, workers will not feel the need to take
their grievances to other parties, like non-governmental
organizations.
Independent unionists launch harsher criticism against the
government controlled.
"What do people who have not labored a day in their lives know
about being a worker? Why would these rich businessmen be
concerned about the workers?" asked an international labor
observer.
Bomer Pasaribu, the union's secretary general, stresses that
the union is trying hard, and is no less concerned about worker
welfare than the unofficial Indonesian Prosperity Labor Union
(SBSI).
He points out that he asked for the minimum wage to be raised
to a level that meets the minimum life requirements, or Rp 7,000
(US$3.10) a day, ten years before SBSI leader Mochtar Pakpahan
made it a hot issue.
Another indication of SPSI's unpopularity is the fact that of
the 42,000 registered companies having 25 employees or more, only
11,000 have a chapter of the union.
H. Safioen, director of PT Great River Industries,
acknowledged that the welfare of their 6,600 factory workers
improved after strikes in 1992, although the union had existed
there for 10 years.
"Because we had been paying more than the minimum wage, we may
have overlooked other factors in labor welfare," Safioen
confessed.
Background
An observer warns that there is not much hope for change.
SPSI's recent return to a federation format, says Fauzi Abdullah,
is merely the "decentralization of control". Control, he
explained, was the original aim of the first sanctioned union,
the Indonesian Federation of Workers (FBSI), when it was formed
in 1973 in the early days of the New Order government.
Like the streamlining of political parties, the 21 unions
controlled by political parties and those independent of the
parties were merged into one federation.
While the government sought to curb a labor movement which had
been closely identified with the banned Indonesian Communist
Party, labor leaders also said workers no longer needed unions
latching onto the politicking of their respective parties.
"Unions must concentrate on workers' welfare," says first FBSI
chairman Agus Sudono in a book on the history of the union.
After the influence of many political parties diminished, the
union became even more centralized in 1985 when the 13 industrial
sectors in the federation merged themselves into the SPSI.
In what observers see as a response to growing criticism, SPSI
leaders declared a return to the federation format late last
year. The union will act as a parent organization and the 13
sectors, which were designed to be autonomous, will deal with
labor issues in the field.
"So, the union's central board will no longer handle labor
disputes, strikes or collective labor agreements," said Deputy
Secretary General William Bokha.
The government is still reluctant to close down the SBSI
because it is strongly supported overseas. The International
Labor Organization (ILO) acknowledges it based on the workers'
freedom of association of the 1944 Philadelphia Declaration.
The ILO and Indonesia, says Director of ILO's Jakarta office,
Herman van der Laan, have yet to agree on the terms of free
organization.
For many workers, union issues and the elaborate Pancasila
industrial relations idea, which stresses harmony, can only be
understood from their experience.
"The employers don't understand what Pancasila industrial
relations is all about," says a garment worker named Karsih. "If
they did they would be able to speak with us, but they always
want their own way." (jsk/anr)