Union calls for urgent reform of PT Jamsostek

JAKARTA (JP): Labor leaders blasted yesterday state-owned insurance company PT Jamsostek, which has collected billions of rupiah in workers' contributions, for failing its clients in this time of need.

The leaders of the Federation of All-Indonesia Workers Union said they had not heard of any money being spent recently to help the millions of workers who had lost their jobs in the economic crisis.

The state-owned workers' insurance company should be overhauled so it becomes more worker-oriented, the labor leaders said in a media briefing in conjunction with the union's 25th anniversary yesterday.

"We have not seen any contribution from Jamsostek to those who lost their jobs in the economic crisis," chairman Datuk Bagindo said in the briefing attended by his deputies Bomer Pasaribu and Wilhelmus Bokha.

"Those in the company seem to have forgotten that Jamsostek was established in 1974 for the workers' welfare," said Datuk. "Now the workers are being left out by the management when they decide on how to spend the money."

Datuk said now was the time to bring home the message that the workers should also be included in the company's ownership.

"We should question whether the government is the only party entitled to hold shares in the company," Datuk said.

He hinted the federation might call on workers to cancel their membership if the government continued to ignore them in decisions regarding fund disbursement.

Datuk also called for an end to Jamsostek's monopoly to manage workers' social insurance.

The company and Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief were widely criticized last year following revelations that they spent billions of rupiah to smooth the passage of the manpower bill through the House of Representatives. The legislation was already controversial as it allegedly neglected workers' rights.

The company was also criticized for its funding of the construction of the Rp 319.5 billion (US$32 million) Jamsostek Tower.

Latief predicted Thursday that unemployment in the agricultural sector for this year would reach 18.4 million from 9.1 million last year. He attributed the dire prediction to damaged paddy fields and failed crops in the long drought last year.

He also estimated that about 8.7 million more people would be out of work by the end of this year. The figure consists of 2.7 million fresh high school graduates who are joining the labor market for the first time, 4.5 million who were already unemployed and 1.5 million people who will be laid off this year.

The federation has predicted that as many as 13.5 million people could lose their jobs due to the economic slump this year.

Meanwhile, the International Labor Organization (ILO) has appealed to the government to channel the recently unemployed people to the informal sector.

ILO deputy director Rizanul Islam said at a meeting of manpower officials Thursday that the informal sectors could absorb a large number of workers.

Islam said the challenges for the government in channeling the unemployed were to provide them with the necessary entrepreneurial spirit and funding.

Islam said the labor-intensive programs which the government had introduced were right. However, he said, in the longer term, newly unemployed workers should be empowered by the government in order for them to survive. (byg)