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