Union wants better deal for contract workers

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) called on the government on Thursday to tighten the regulations on hiring contract workers, saying that many of them had been treated unfairly by their employers.

Contract workers are always haunted by uncertainty about their future, SBSI chairman Muchtar Pakpahan said.

"Many have worked all their lives without guarantee concerning their welfare," Muchtar said in an SBSI-sponsored discussion, which looked at problems facing contract workers, held at Hotel Wisata in Central Jakarta.

He said that any new system should include a provision stating that workers must be paid severance pay at the end of their contract, and limit the number of jobs in which employers could use contract workers.

SBSI estimates that some five million out of Indonesia's 95 million strong workforce are working under contract, which means that they do not get the perks and benefits that permanent workers enjoy.

Most of these contract workers are unskilled workers doing menial jobs. They are found in the banking, electronic, textile and garment and the mining sectors.

More specifically, SBSI urged the government to repeal two government decrees that companies have used as a basis in hiring contract workers: Minister of Manpower Decree 2/1993 on periodic working contracts and Minister of Manpower Decree 5/1995 on periodic working contracts for the oil and gas sector.

Under these decrees, companies can employ contract workers for a maximum of up to three years. Beyond this, they have to either recruit them as permanent workers or dismiss them.

The decrees also specifically state that companies may only employ contract workers for seasonal jobs and as trainees.

SBSI spokesman Andy William Sinaga said many companies opted for the contract system to avoid various financial obligations they would otherwise be required to pay their workers.

"Contract workers don't get severance pay, pension funds or social security," Andy told The Jakarta Post.

He said they also faced an uncertain future and employers often offered them two choices: reapply for the job, sign a new contract, or terminate the contract permanently.

Most workers opt to reapply for work at the same company rather than face the uncertain prospect of looking for a new job, he said.

There are contract workers who have worked for up to 20 years at the same company without receiving benefits that they would have been entitled to under a permanent hiring system, he said.

Some companies dismiss workers when their contracts expire and recruit a new batch of workers to replace them, Andy said.

This practice is rampant in the mining sector which is dominated by foreign companies, he said.

The Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration said it was reviewing the rules on contract workers, but it cautioned SBSI against pushing its demand for the abolition of the system.

The problem cannot be viewed from one side only, Director General of Industrial Relations Marjono told the discussion.

The interests of employers must be taken into account too, he said, adding that some jobs still required the use of contract workers.

"We cannot simply revoke these decrees. What about companies, like those in the construction sector, which rely on short-term projects?" he said.

The government is currently working to improve the regulations to improve the welfare of contract workers, he said.

Marjono said the issue of contract workers should be resolved by the government and the representatives of employers and workers. "We should sit down together and find a solution."

He urged workers to report to the government any companies which abused the contract workers system. He promised that the ministry would follow up on any information from workers. (07)