Union needed to improve welfare
JAKARTA (JP): A journalists' association and a union of newspaper publishers said on Tuesday it was important for journalists to set up unions in their respective offices to strengthen their bargaining position with their publishing companies.
"AJI itself has been declared a workers' union. In the past we fought against the government, nowadays we face the publishing companies," the union coordinator of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), P. Bambang Wisudo, said while addressing a seminar on Credibility, Institution, Professionalism and Press Workers' Welfare here.
Wisudo said AJI currently is campaigning for the establishment of press workers' unions, but has been receiving resistance from publishing companies and journalists.
"Journalists prefer to be called professionals, although they are paid monthly salaries and treated similar to workers," Wisudo, who is also a journalist at Kompas daily, said.
He said unions were needed since many publishing companies and journalists did not show enough concern about such things as journalists' salaries, transportation allowances and insurance.
He said publishing companies could not stop the establishment of the unions, saying if they attempted this they could face a maximum sentence of five years in jail or a fine of between Rp 100 million and Rp 500 million, according to Law No. 21/1999 on unions.
"Many workers' unions, outside the press, are ready to enter the press industry," Wisudo said.
He said at least 14 workers' unions have been established in Jakarta, including Dewan Karyawan (Workers Council) and Perkumpulan Karyawan (Workers Association).
He said so far only the union of the Central Java-based Solo Pos daily had registered at the Ministry of Manpower, a move necessary to give legal certainty to the workers.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the Newspaper Publishers Union (SPS), Leo Batubara, agreed with Wisudo about the establishment of unions, but suggested these unions be established at profitable publishing companies.
"We demand the establishment of workers' unions and an improvement in the welfare of journalists, including their salaries, at those already profitable companies," Leo said.
He said only 15 percent of the current 1,687 print media were profitable and professional.
"Unless the profitable print media pay their journalists well, the journalists will move to dot.coms or television stations, which offer higher salaries," he said.
However, the chief editor of The Jakarta Post, Susanto Pudjomartono, said a workers' union was not really the right answer to improving the welfare of journalists.
"The problem is how to reduce the journalists' anxiety about their jobs, insurance, career development and their futures," Susanto said during the seminar.
He said giving journalists shares in their companies, providing regular training and ensuring transparency in management would help prevent journalists from leaving the print media.
"If the journalists work only for larger salaries, there will be no pride because they are only a small part of their companies' systems," he said. (jun)