Workers to get meager salary rise

SEMARANG, Central Java: Central Java Governor Mardiyanto has decided that the provincial government would raise the minimum wage by 16.32 percent on average by January next year, dashing workers' hope who had earlier demanded a 30 percent minimum wage increase.

The implementation of the rise will be different in each regency or mayoralty in Central Java province, and the 16.32 percent rise would serve only as a benchmark, said chief of Central Java manpower office, Srimoyo Tamtomo.

The highest minimum wage currently in Central Java is in Semarang, the provincial capital, of Rp 473,600 a month. The new rates were decided after the governor received input from workers, employers and bureaucrats, said Srimoyo. -- JP