Workers raise their voice

Worker strikes are on the rise again. One of the latest to be hit was a garment factory. Thousands of workers brought their complaints to the national legislature. They demanded an increase in wages, the establishment of an All Indonesia Workers Association (SPSI) unit at the factory and the signing of a collective work agreement.

Generally speaking, not many industries are willing to have an SPSI chapter present at their establishment and to maintain a collective work agreement with their workers. The reason is that both tend to strengthen the position of the workers in pushing their demands. They fear that the presence of an SPSI chapter might unite the workers in articulating their aspirations and expressing them in an organized manner.

If this is true, it must be regretted that SPSI is still being regarded as a means for one-way communication: to convey the workers' wishes to the management. In reality SPSI could also serve to explain the management's policies to the workers.

A harmonious relationship between workers and management should become the target. It is difficult to conceive how the drive to attract investments can be successful as long as would- be foreign investors are working under the specter of labor disputes, especially when the information is obtained from unreliable sources.

-- Bisnis Indonesia, Jakarta