Workers union to revert to a federation

Workers union to revert to a federation

JAKARTA (JP): The All Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) is set
to revert back to the format of a federation of several trade
unions when its leaders meet in Cisarua, West Java, starting
today.

General William Bokha, deputy secretary general, said
yesterday the two-day leadership meeting, which will be opened by
Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief, will formalize the union's new
statutes as a federation, with SPSI acting as the parent
organization for all trade unions in Indonesia.

Over the past year SPSI has restructured itself and its
various departments into 13 unions. The Cisarua meeting will
formally adopt the new statutes.

SPSI is the only union recognized by the government to
represent workers in negotiations with management.

The government's single union policy has been criticized at
home and abroad as violating the workers' right to freedom of
association. Criticisms grew even louder in the face of SPSI's
ineffectiveness in fighting for workers' interests.

Government officials and SPSI executives said the move to go
back to a federation has been in the pipeline for some years and
had nothing to do with the pressures mounting against the
government and the union.

Bokha said of the restructuring that SPSI would concentrate
more on conceptual and political matters while the task of
representing workers would be handled by union sectors.

"So, SPSI will no longer handle labor problems such as labor
disputes, industrial strikes and collective labor agreements."

He said the 13 industrial unions which are affiliated to SPSI
are autonomous and independent in carrying out their tasks of
representing their members. "They are fully autonomous because
they have their own statutes and rules."

The 13 industrial unions registered with the government as
affiliated to SPSI are unions representing workers in the
construction and public works sector; wood and forestry; trade;
banking and insurance; publications and printing; food, beverages
and cigarette industries; chemical, energy and mining; metal,
electronic and machinery; textile, garment and leather
industries; seamen; pharmaceutical and health; agricultural and
plantation; tourism and transportation.

Bokha, who chairs the electronic and machinery trade union,
said the number of industrial unions could be doubled in
accordance with the number of sectors.

He said the trade unions would also be ready to accommodate
all professional associations in their respective sectors.

Citing examples, he said the Association of Indonesian Nurses
could join in the pharmaceutical and health sector and the
Association of Indonesian Architects union could join the
construction and public works sector.

"Many professional associations have asked to join SPSI to
fight for their interests," he said.

Critics

In a separate occasion, SPSI's Secretary General Bomer
Pasaribu said the restructuring of SPSI is intended to placate
critics who say that there is no freedom of association for
workers in Indonesia. "Nobody is 100 percent free in the
world ... freedom has its limits."

He stressed, however, that unity between the various trade
unions is crucial in giving workers some political clout, and
this is a common practice in more advanced and democratic
countries such as the United States, Australia, New Zealand,
Japan and South Korea. "The more labor organizations we have, the
weaker the workers' bargaining power will be," he said.

SPSI was formed in 1985 from a group of unions affiliated to
the Federation of Indonesian Workers Union. The federation itself
was founded when 21 trade unions signed a declaration on Feb. 20,
1993.

Bomer acknowledged that there are still many shortcomings in
SPSI, but said the present leadership has done many things to
improve the welfare of workers.

"People only complain but they do nothing and do not precisely
know the labor conditions," he said. "SPSI has worked hard on
government decrees for regional minimum wages, annual bonuses and
establishment of units of SPSI in companies."

Up to September, there were nearly 11,000 SPSI units in more
than 140,000 companies. Around 8,000 companies have made
collective labor agreements with their workers. (rms)