Workers still marginalized

Workers still marginalized

Ridwan Max Sijabat
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

In the new global economy, multinational corporations contract
with firms all over the world to manufacture their electronic
parts, their garments, foods and beverages, furniture, toys or
footwear. The labels on goods used by those living in luxurious
apartments or the uniforms or shoes used by famous football and
basketball players at international events tell us they were
"Made in China," "Made in Thailand," "Made in Vietnam," or "Made
in Indonesia."

Consumers frequently feel proud of using products with famous
labels such as Nike, Reebok, Ligna, Sony, Samsung, Levi Strauss
and Swan, or drinking Lipton, Fanta, Coca-Cola and other
international products but they seldom stop to think about what
such labels means.

One of the most notorious multinational corporations that
makes contracts with local manufacturers in Indonesia is Nike,
the U.S. footwear manufacturing company has contracts with at
least 14 local companies in Indonesia.

The usage of Nike footwear in the 2000 Sydney Olympics sparked
a strong protest from numerous human rights groups and labor
activists because of the poor condition of workers employed by
its partner or manufacturing companies in Tangerang, Banten. The
protest followed a wave of industrial strikes staged by workers
in 1999 who were paid between US$33.80 and $39.40 per month, or
a little more than $1 per day.

According to data at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry,
Nike was only one of around 60 manufacturing companies failing to
pay attention to workers' basic rights between 1999 and 2002.
This figure is far too low if compared to labor conditions during
the New Order era.

Besides the increasing demand for the basic rights of workers
have cause them to frequently go on strike or stage rallies in
front of government offices and the House of Representatives
building to protest against low wages, arbitrary dismissals,
transfers and insurance protection.

All these problems have come to a head because the workers
could not adequately meet the increased cost of living and other
secondary and tertiary needs, and were treated inhumanely despite
the entrance into the supposed reform era.

Very few industrial disputes occurred between employers and
workers during the 32-year New Order era, because workers were
controlled by former president Soeharto's repressive and
militaristic-style regime. Not only that, the police and military
were deployed to handle industrial disputes in companies and only
one workers union Serikat Pekerja Seluruh Indonesia (SPSI) was
allowed to represent workers in negotiations with employers.

Soeharto, who made an economic policy based on growth, was
trying to attract as many foreign investors as possible but
adequate attention was not given to improving the poor labor
conditions while the annual economic growth of 7 percent greatly
enriched a small group of conglomerate owners, mostly from the
Cendana clique.

SPSI, which was ironically dominated by the then ruling party
Golkar, had rarely, if ever, paid attention to improving the poor
labor conditions, but instead focused on pushing all workers to
support Golkar at ballot time to defeat the only other two legal
parties at the time, the United Development Party (PPP) and the
then Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in six straight general
elections.

The Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI) led by Muchtar
Pakpahan contributed slightly by countering SPSI, but their
struggle got him and his fellow labor activists a one-way ticket
prison. Even, H.J.C. Princen, an Indonesian of Dutch parentage
and former war veteran in Indonesia, was once sent to jail and
several times tortured for advocating on behalf of workers in the
1980s.

All this social, political and economic background has given
birth to an extreme proliferation of labor unions following the
downfall of Soeharto on May 21, 1998. At present there are at
least 64 labor unions, in the forms of federations or
confederations and at the company-level.

"The mushrooming of labor unions has a lot to do with the
reform euphoria brought in by former president B.J. Habibie who
ratified ILO Convention 87 on freedom of expression and ILO
Convention 98 on freedom to unionize. Consequently, we made Law
No. 21/2000 on labor unions giving a guarantee for workers to set
up their own union," Minister of Manpower and Transmigration
Jacob Nuwa Wea told The Jakarta Post in an interview here
recently.

Jacob predicted that the reform euphoria would last for a long
time since the fate of workers had yet to be give adequate
attention from the government and other relevant institutions.
"The current situation will likely last for the next ten to
fifteen years, or until the workers have strong bargaining power
in negotiations with employers and investors," he said.

He denied that the recent relocation of many foreign companies
to Vietnam and China was related to those countries alleged poor
treatment of workers and their pro-labor laws. He said Sony
Electronics closed down its factory in Indonesia, not because of
the labor disputes, but because of worker inefficiency. PT Doson
and Nike said their relocation to Vietnam and China was because
of their inability to pay their workers the new, government-
mandated minimum wages.

"So far, there have been no foreign investors who have
relocated to other countries because of the labor unrest," he
stated.

Jacob, also chairman of the Confederation of All Indonesian
Workers Union (KSPSI), many investors have complained about the
poor climate for investment in Indonesia because of general
security, rampant extortion, rising inflation and, the last, was
labor disputes.

Many foreign investors with palm oil plantations in Sumatra,
Kalimantan and Sulawesi left because of the rife theft of profits
and rampant extortion by security personnel, while many leather
and footwear companies have gone bankrupt because of the banning
of leather imports or the rising prices of raw materials.
Therefore, he said, all these problems should be blamed, not on
his ministry, but the trade and industry ministry, he said.

"Speaking frankly, no workers acquire big assets or become
rich because of high wages. The highest minimum wage at present
is around Rp 700,000 per month. A single worker cannot live
humanely and meet his/her basic needs and rent a small house with
such a monthly payment. The irony is that investors have never
disclosed to the public on the huge amount they have paid to
corrupt officials for certain facilities and for security.

"Do you believe that PT Freeport does not pay security
authorities? Are you sure that PT Caltex in Riau and ExxonMobil
in troubled Aceh and other giant companies do not pay a huge
amount of money for their security. I personally don't. But
what's happening is that these employers have charged this
security money to the labor cost, a similar practice was done by
investors during the New Order era," said Jacob who was once a
manager of private company in Jakarta.

Jacob who was born in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara, insisted
that Indonesia could no longer maintain the cheap labor policy to
bring in foreign investors to invest in the country. Investors
should hold the principle of "business is business" but doing
business in the country should comply with the law and respect
democracy. "Indonesia would continue lagging behind and workers
would eventually become backward and uneducated if the old
practice and labor policy was maintained," he added.

Asked about the current program, he said he was trying to
encourage labor unions to provide training programs to improve
their members' skills, not only in their work places but also in
negotiations with employers.

"With such training programs, labor unions will become more
professional and they are expected to share a common awareness
that they will be getting stronger only if they are united or
merge into two and three confederations in representing workers.
But this will take more time," he said.

He said that of the 64 labor unions registered with the
Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, only around ten had more
than one million members, including KPSPSI, SBSI and workers
unions in state-owned companies.

Besides developing a strong labor movement to support
democracy, he is trying to review old labor laws to help improve
workers' social welfare. "So far, the government has made a new
law on labor protection regulating industrial relations between
workers and employers. The law which has yet to be enacted by
President Megawati Soekarnoputri also accommodates a major part
of the prolabor Ministerial Decree No. 150 on severance and
service payments for dismissed workers."

The law also demolishes the ministerial decree's rule
requiring employers to pay severance and service payments for
resigning workers and those committing crimes in their work
place. Besides, the law regulates sensitive issues such as labor
strikes, general rights, menstruation leave, outsourcing and
annual and sabbath vacations.

"The other important thing is that employers will think twice
before committing violations because the law threatens harsh
sanctions and fines against them," said the minister.

Jacob said the government and the House of Representatives
were making a final touch to the bill on settlement of labor
disputes stipulating the establishment of labor court to give a
legal certainty for workers in dealing with disputes with their
employers.

"The two laws will be quite strategic to improve the poor
labor condition so that they will no longer be marginalized. My
obsession is that workers will play an important role in
developing the country, upholding the democracy and bring the
nation into the modern industrial era," he said.

Jacob, also an executive of the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) that gave him his current job, conceded
that he still had a headache in handling the unemployment problem
since the number of jobless has significantly reached 40 million,
many of whom are university graduates.

The Oct. 12, 2002 Bali terror bombs, the U.S.-led regime
change in Iraq and the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)
epidemic have added to economic constraints, in addition to the
low quality of workers, for the government to send as many as
possible job seekers overseas.

"The Bali blasts have made foreign employers unwilling to
employ Indonesian male workers, the war on Iraq has caused Middle
East countries to suspend the import of foreign workers and the
SARS epidemic has forced us to suspend the labor export to Hong
Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia," he said.

He said all these problems would be temporary and he was
optimistic that the planned reconstruction in Iraq would need
workers from Indonesia and other Gulf states would resume their
labor imports from Indonesia since the fighting in Iraq was
already over.

"We are using this time to press labor export companies to
intensify their training programs to improve the skills of
workers before they are sent overseas. This will improve the
workers' bargaining power," he said.

He meanwhile said the government would also continue to review
its economic policy to continue luring foreign investors to
invest in the country in an attempt to create more job
opportunities to cope with the unemployment problem.