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)