Workers demand 100 percent rise

Workers demand 100 percent rise

BANDUNG: Hundreds of workers from the West Java Nusantara
Workers Union staged a noisy protest at Bandung's City Hall and
provincial council building on Wednesday, demanding a 100 percent
rise in minimum wages.

The protesters said the current minimum wage was no longer
enough to cope with workers' escalating living and transportation
costs.

Spokesman Waras Wasisto said that based on a recent survey of
Bandung workers' living costs, each worker needed at least Rp
642,000 (US$64.2) a month to survive.

"Minimum wages in West Java range from Rp 601,000 to Rp
635,000. How can we keep on working when we still have to borrow
money to buy our basic needs," Waras said. Many workers were
getting paid significantly less than the standard minimum wage,
he said.

The protesters called on Governor Danny Setiawan to
immediately set a new minimum wage. -- JP