Union leader denies back-room deals charge

Union leader denies back-room deals charge

JAKARTA (JP): A union leader, accused of cutting a back-room
deal with cigarette producers at the expense of workers, lashed
out at leaders of the All-Indonesian Workers Union Federation
whom he said were ill-informed.

Tosari Widjaja, chairman of the Federation's Union for
Cigarette, Tobacco, Food and Beverage Workers, denied he had
supported the Association of Indonesian Cigarette Producers's
request to delay the implementation of a new ministerial ruling
on minimum wages.

"The Federation leaders don't understand what's really going
on," he said here yesterday.

The Federation leaders have said they were outraged by reports
that Tosari had quietly cut a deal with cigarette companies to
postpone the enforcement of the wage hike.

Tosari said that the deal he signed was actually for a wage
hike benefiting those daily-paid workers, three percent of the
workers of the cigarette companies in total, who had yet to
receive an increase.

The cigarette companies, grouped in the Association of
Indonesian Cigarette Producers (GAPPRI), have around 150,000
workers. 87 percent are temporary or seasonal workers, seven
percent are daily-hired workers with wages already in accordance
with the minimum wages ruling, three percent are the daily-paid
workers unaffected by the daily wage hike mentioned above, while
the remaining three percent are permanent workers.

However, Tosari's explanation contradicted that of the
government.

Director of Labor Standards Sabar Sianturi told the press
yesterday that the union for the cigarette industry under Tosari
has indeed supported the cigarette producers' application for a
selective exemption of the new minimum wage ruling.

Sianturi said the request for exemption was for cigarette
companies facing financial difficulties. "It's the government's
prerogative to either accept or turn down the request," he said.

The ministry also denied reports that some members of the
association of Indonesian employers, Apindo, have refused to
increase workers' minimum wages as stipulated by a new
ministerial decree.

The ruling, outlined in a decree by Minister of Manpower Abdul
Latief, requires companies to calculate the minimum wages paid to
all workers, both permanent and temporary, for 30 days per month
as opposed to 25 days under the old regulation.

The decree came into effect on April 1 as the government was
hiking daily minimum wages by an average of 10 percent. The
average minimum wage is Rp 3,600 (US$1.5).

Sianturi said that the employers' association had accepted the
ruling. It has also called on its 1,956 members to seek official
exemption if they face financial difficulties and are unable to
comply with the ruling.

Sianturi said the government wanted all companies to implement
the new minimum wage regulation, because this matter concerns
workers' welfare.

He also said that out of 365 companies that have requested
exemption, 52 have been granted it. Several companies' requests
have been rejected, he said.

Association deputy chairman Rienaldo Thamrin has been widely
reported as saying that Apindo has refused to enforce the new
ruling. He was also quoted by the press as naming a clutch of
companies in Kartasura, Central Java, as recalcitrant employers
refusing to comply. (16/rms)