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)