Workers demand higher wages

BANDUNG: Hundreds of workers in Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, grouped under the Indonesian Metal Workers Union, marched to the West Java provincial legislative council on Thursday to demand higher minimum wages.

The workers said they wanted the West Java governor to review his decree on the regional minimum wage for workers in the Jakarta buffer zone areas of Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi (Botabek).

"We are unfairly treated. Our cost of living is as high as those living in Jakarta. So if workers in Jakarta get higher wages, why don't we?" Tri Yuningsih, a female worker at Matsusita Kutubuki Indonesia in Bekasi said.

The workers were apparently provoked by the Jakarta administration's new decree on the hike of workers' regional minimum wage.

The regional minimum wage for both workers in Botabek and Jakarta were previously Rp 286,000 per month. However, the Ministry of Manpower has approved a 20 percent hike in the minimum wage for workers in Jakarta, effective from September.

The workers were received by chairman of Commission E of the Legislative Council. The workers gave the governor a deadline, saying that the review must be completed by Sept. 4 or they would stage a mass strike. (25/sur)