Workers 'should be made shareholders'

Workers 'should be made shareholders'

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris suggested
yesterday workers be given a stake in their companies to help
improve their productivity and social welfare.

"Workers should be given opportunities to own a small part of
companies where they are employed to boost their productivity and
social welfare," he said when receiving the executive board of
the Indonesian Workers Trade Union Federation (Gaspermindo) at
his office yesterday.

He said that journalists, as stipulated in the press law, had
the right to own 20 percent of their publishing companies'
shares.

He expressed deep concern about the poor labor conditions
following the prolonged economic crisis and said that most labor
disputes would not have happened had workers been given
opportunities to own shares in the companies employing them.

He said that many financially troubled companies had dismissed
employees, prompting waves of protests among workers and causing
unemployment to soar.

"We regret that both the government and investors have failed
to think of the social impacts of the economic crisis," he said.

"You can imagine, since many workers have been dismissed, how
many mouths cannot be fed since the crisis hit the country."

He said that thousands of other workers were under threat of
dismissal every day while the number of unemployed was expected
to reach more than 15.5 million by the end of this month.

"This is the social cost that we must pay for the crisis."

Furthermore, he said, workers still had poor bargaining power
since many of them had yet to form unions and most employers were
not committed to protecting their labor forces.

He cited South Korean investors who still insisted on cheap
labor.

According to data from the All-Indonesia Workers Union
Federation (FSPSI), only 11 percent of the 40 million workers
have their own labor organizations.

Fahmi, however, urged workers to go to negotiating tables in
search for solutions to their disputes rather than to go on
strike.

"Of course, they (workers) have the right to stage
demonstrations, but, I think, it is not effective because they
will eventually still have to negotiate with the management," he
said. Demonstrations should be considered the last resort to
force management to the negotiating table.

Director for Industrial Relations and Labor Standards Syaufi'i
Syamsudin, who accompanied the minister in the meeting, said that
besides the FSPSI and the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union
(SBSI), four new trade unions had recently declared their
establishment following the government's decision to allow
freedom of labor association.

The four are the Serbu Musi Trade Union, the Indonesian Moslem
Workers Union (PPMI), the Marhaenist Workers Unin (KBM) and
Gapermindo.

Syaufi'i said the Civil Servants Corps (KORPRI) and the
Association of State-owned Plantation Employees (Perkappen) were
preparing to declare their establishment in the near future.
(rms)