Women workers struggle to support families

By Emmy Fitri

JAKARTA (JP): The majority of workers in labor intensive industries are women, such as in exported textiles, footwear and factories manufacturing processed wood products.

From what the following workers say, a small increase in the regional minimum wage, if not a delay, would leave the women and their families scrambling even harder to survive.

One man, Pami Sutiono, claimed with pride that the eldest of his three daughters, Teti, was the family's backbone.

The 42-year-old ambulance driver said he only went home once a week and could not always bring home money.

"If I don't get an order (to drive the ambulance) I don't get paid," he said. Ambulance driving only earned him enough to live in Jakarta, he added.

"So if I get two or three orders, than I can go home and give the money to my wife," he said.

Despite such uncertainty, Pami can work with the thought that Teti's regular wage supports the family. She works in a cookie factory in Cikarang, Bekasi.

"She has worked there since she graduated from economic high school," he said.

Teti earned at least Rp 300,000 per month and gave almost all of it to her mother, her father said.

But Pami said that he worried about Teti's health as she sometimes had to double her work hours to get overtime pay.

He also said that he was concerned how Teti could live up to her urban-like environment, where it seemed the norm for girls was to wear smart dresses and make up.

He will have more to worry about if Teti's company is among 85 firms in Bekasi asking permission to lay off workers, according to researcher Indrasari Tjandraningsih.

"Unlike most girls here, my daughter is very plain and modest," he said.

Zuraida, who hails from Ciawi, West Java, cannot afford to even to think about lipstick and clothes.

The eldest of five of a peasant couple, she said she had to save at least half her earnings to send home any money.

"But the money I send now barely has the same value that it used to have."

In the past, the money Zuraida earned could be used to buy fertilizer and to pay for her brothers and sisters' school fees.

"Last week when I went home, my father said the price of fertilizer increased while the supply was limited, so he had to rush to buy it, otherwise we wouldn't be able to grow our rice," she said.

Almost half of the Rp 200,000 she sends home is spent on fertilizer.

New Year

Zuraida said she did not want to think about the approaching holidays of Christmas, New Year's, the Ramadhan fasting month and Idul Fitri.

She usually sets aside money for her parents to buy her younger siblings dresses and extra food.

"Even the price of tempeh has increased. If I have the money I'll shop for my parents, but if I don't why should I push myself too hard?" she said.

Kartini, who had worked at a shoe factory for five years in the Pulo Gadung industrial area, East Jakarta, said she did not understand all the fuss on television and in newspapers.

"I'd rather read a novel or a comic book," she said.

"I know they're talking about economics and the future of the country but it's better for me to work harder so I can be promoted with a higher salary," Kartini said with conviction.

She said she could not send any money home.

Of her earnings, "I save in case I want to go home" to Madiun, East Java. She is also more mindful of her personal needs.

"My salary is only enough for living here; it's not much but I can afford some entertainment and a few new dresses," she said.

She adds, "I like to buy lipstick, usually I buy one for less than Rp 15,000 and stroll around Arion Plaza (in East Jakarta), sometimes just to window shop with my friends."

The Ramadhan fasting month, she said, was an opportunity to be frugal.

While housewives felt they needed to spend more to satisfy the family's appetite at the dawn breakfast and breaking of the fast, Kartini said, "I'll be able to save because I don't eat as much."

She said she would be very happy if the regional minimum wage was raised, keeping with the tradition of the strict policy of Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief.

Kartini may not have heard of employers' warnings that they may not be able to live up to the annual expectation.

But she knows this Idul Fitri is no time for the usual showering of gifts of love. The annual bonus which she and her colleagues have received would only be enough for the bus fare home.

"I figure that as usual the bus fare and food prices will go up, so I will not be able to bring along souvenirs for my family," she said.

She said when she gets her monthly wage of Rp 180,000, she first allocates part of it for the rent shared with five women, also from Madiun.

The monthly rent for rooms near the factory, simply divided into two with a piece of plywood, ranges from Rp 80,000 to Rp 200,000.