Union awareness weak in Yogyakarta

Union awareness weak in Yogyakarta

YOGYAKARTA: Workers' awareness of their right to association
and organization remains low in Yogyakarta, an official said on
Saturday.

Out of 2,600 registered companies, only 10 percent, or 208,
have set up labor unions, he added.

Speaking at a seminar, Eddy Suyanto, chief of the industrial
relations and labor standard section of the local manpower
ministry office, said the lack of trade unions would weaken the
workers' bargaining power in negotiations with their employers.

He called on workers to unionize because it was guaranteed by
the ILO Convention No. 87 on freedom of association, which was
ratified by the government in 1998.

Labor unions were effective media for workers and their
employers to negotiate for collective labor agreements, he said.

Workers could set up their own associations if they do not
want to join existing labor unions, he added.

He said existing labor unions should be empowered to
strengthen workers' bargaining positions and create harmonious
industrial relations in companies. (rms)