Workers stage nationwide rally against protection bill

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In what was believed to be one of the largest turnouts ever of labor protesters, thousands of workers from across the country took to the streets on Thursday to oppose the labor protection and industrial settlement bill.

The workers criticized the bill, dubbed by many as a pro-labor draft law, for not providing enough protection for them.

The bill is being deliberated at the House of Representatives, and is likely to be passed into law later this month, after a two-month delay due to strong opposition from both trade unions and the business community.

The businesspeople slammed the bill for giving too much protection to workers at the expense of employers and warned that it would be yet another major deterrent for investors.

The workers demanded more protection of their rights to strike, to appeal against dismissal and to pursue a career in the company they work at.

Responding to the workers' demands, the government revised 35 chapters of the two bills, including a section on contract workers and protection for female workers.

Thousands of workers in Jakarta staged peaceful demonstrations taking the route from the traffic circle in front of Hotel Indonesia to the Vice Presidential Palace in Jl. Merdeka Selatan and completed the rally outside the national legislative compound.

"We demand the legislators reject the bills because they fail to meet our needs," one of the workers shouted.

They also demanded the government to annul Law No. 25/1997 on manpower.

However, the demonstrators were not allowed to enter the compound to meet the legislators, as the internal security officers locked the gate.

Workers nationwide have, in the past few days, staged strikes and rallies demanding the House to stop deliberating on the bills.

Last month, police shot two of the demonstrators in Bandung over the same issue, while many of their colleagues were arrested.

Similar protests also took place in North Sumatra's capital of Medan, Surabaya and other big cities.

Many non-governmental organizations concerned with workers' rights also expressed opposition to the two bills, in particular, a clause which states that the government was not responsible for providing jobs to its citizens, leaving the task of creating jobs to market mechanisms.

Disputes between workers and companies have become a hindrance to economic growth and new investment, but there has not yet been effective mediation to handle the problem.

The bill on dispute settlements allows workers to go on strike as a "last resort" to fight for their interests and to protest unfair policies made by the management, but the strikes must be staged peacefully and in accordance with the law, while the workers should be a card-carrying member of the appropriate union.

But the clause has also been opposed by the workers, due in large part to the fact that not all workers are members of labor unions as many were established by management, and not regarded as independent.

Meanwhile, around 300 workers from furniture producer PT Hamar Wijaya Makassar in South Sulawesi, filed a complaint to the local government for the management's arbitrary dismissal of 150 of their colleagues.

The dismissed workers claimed that the management had neglected their welfare after 11 years of work.

One of the protesters, Hasyim, accused the office of manpower and transmigration of taking bribes from the company.

"I'm disappointed with the officials who failed to defend us," he told reporters as quoted by Antara.