Workers protest against new labor laws
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Bandung/Semarang
Thousands of workers from Jakarta, Bandung in West Java, and Semarang in Central Java staged separate, peaceful rallies to coincide with the new labor bill becoming law on Tuesday.
The protesters said the bill, endorsed by the House of Representatives on Feb. 25, would weaken worker's rights because it allowed child labor, did not require employers to provide service payments for resigning workers or those dismissed for committing crimes, and did not allow women time off during menstruation or following a miscarriage without a doctor's recommendation.
During debate on the bill, only seven of 64 labor unions and federations registered with the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration were involved.
"We were never involved in the deliberation process," Bambang Eka, chairman of the West Java branch of the Indonesian Independent Workers Union, said during a rally of hundreds of workers in Bandung on Tuesday.
Dita Indah Sari, a labor activist from the National Front for the Struggle of Indonesian Workers (FNPBI), in her speech before about 2,000 workers rallying in front of the presidential palace in Jakarta, said workers should not comply with the law.
"Those accepting the law are those who bow to the regime! Those accepting the law are those who bow to international capitalists!" she shouted to cheering workers.
In Jakarta workers started their long march from the Hotel Indonesia Traffic Circle in Central Jakarta and stopped at the nearby United Nations office on Jl. Thamrin, Central Jakarta. Six representatives were invited in by Alan Boulton, director of the International Labor Organization (ILO) for Indonesia.
Saiful Bahri, a labor representative who joined the meeting with the ILO, told The Jakarta Post the ILO officials said they could not intervene in the government's decision to sign the bill into law.
"They could understand the law, even though deep inside their hearts they did not fully agree with it," he claimed.
Furthermore, when the protesters continued their march to the State Palace, neither President Megawati, State Secretary Bambang Kesowo or any of their representatives welcomed the workers to hear their demands.
In Bandung, hundreds of workers who rallied in front of the provincial council compound had a similar experience. After protesting for about five hours, no legislator showed up to welcome them.
In Semarang, about 1,500 workers demonstrating at the provincial council compound were also ignored.
However, Dita said the workers' struggle would show results some day. "It depends on how much pressure we can apply. Workers have to build a national movement in order to win the struggle," she said.
Dita, who has fought for workers' rights for more than ten years, said the labor movement in Indonesia was improving.
"Workers do not merely fight for their wages. Now they have political awareness too."
Bangun Winarno, a worker for a glassware company in Jakarta, said they would continue fighting if the government did not meet their demands.