Unions unable to improve workers' welfare

A'an Suryana and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Judge Suprapto handed down a verdict of two months and 14 days to a young labor activist in Tangerang for stealing a pair of reject sandals from the factory where he worked.

Despite the verdict, delivered early this year, Hamdani bin Ijin maintained that he did not steal the reject sandals from PT Osaga Mas Utama in Tangerang.

He argued that he and other workers in the factory normally wore such sandals while bathing before they performed Friday prayers at the factory compound.

According to many labor activists, Hamdani's actual sin might not be that he stole the reject sandals, but rather that he was an active member of the union.

Hamdani had organized rallies to demand salary increases and staged protests against the dismissal of nine of his fellow workers by the company.

His fight, however, died down as soon as he was brought to court.

Labor activists saw the case, popularly known as the sandal jepit case, as an example of the commonplace conspiracy between employers and the security forces to weaken the labor movement in labor-intensive companies. Most of the time, it is effective.

The case could also illustrate the immaturity of the labor movement in the country, that quickly loses its grips as soon as the leaders are gone.

"In practice, the coercion and intimidation of labor activists still exists despite the demise of the New Order administration," said Dita Indah Sari, a leading labor activist.

Dita, chairwoman of the National Front for the Struggle of Indonesian Workers (FNPBI), said that currently, employers often collaborated with the police to charge labor activists with defamation.

The move is clearly aimed at curbing the labor movement.

In addition to coercion, Dita asserted that worsening economic conditions posed a far more damaging threat to the labor movement.

According to Dita, the prolonged crisis had reduced the bargaining power of workers. With 40 million people categorized as unemployed, it would be easy for employers to find a replacement for undesirable workers.

These two factors -- coercion and the high rate of unemployment -- prevent workers from taking the benefit of their new-found freedom, including the freedom to unionize and freedom to strike.

Now is the time for labor unions to strengthen their position, labor experts suggested.

One of the ways would be for unions to stay financially independent.

According to labor expert Fauzi Abdullah, less than 10 percent of around 40 national labor unions and hundreds of other loosely organized labor organizations are able to finance half of their activities from membership fees.

The others rely on outside funds, and this explain why they are unable to stay independent.

"If this is the case, then, the executives of such unions would be more obligated to meet project targets from donors rather than from members," Fauzi said.

Only labor unions at state companies could independently finance their activities. But still, their independence was questionable as sometimes they fought for the interests of their management.

Another questionable factor is that those unions were established with the help of international non-governmental organizations or political organizations.

The Indonesian Workers Struggle (FNPBI), an extension organization of the People's Democratic Party (PRD), serves as a good example.

Such organizations surely have weaknesses, as they will be used for certain political interests, and disregard the basic fight for the welfare of the workers. Furthermore they fail to create a collective awareness of workers' rights.

The country had seen the failure of the Federation of All Indonesian Labor Unions (FSPSI), established in 1973, in fighting for workers' rights because they were financially dependent on the ruling party at that time.

This government-sanctioned union was then even used by the ruling Golkar Party to reach its target to recruit workers into the party's membership.

Now, the one labor union policy has gone. Currently, it is very easy to establish a labor union. A group of 10 people can go directly to the local manpower office to register a labor union. But, their fight for better welfare still has a long way to go as Indonesia's minimum wage of around US$35 per month is the lowest in Asia, after Bangladesh.