http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/commentary/46-years-and-counting-for-labor-justice/515326
46 Years and Counting for Labor Justice Yanto Soegiarto | May 02, 2012 When the Indonesian economy was in such a poor state in 1966 that food was hardly affordable due to increasing fuel prices, student groups, labor unions, engineers, women activists and teachers staged a huge rally to make three main demands, known as Tritura (Tiga Tuntutan Rakyat). The demonstration, which evolved into a movement called Gerakan 66, called on the government to lower food prices, dissolve President Sukarno’s Dwikora I cabinet for failing to save the economy and disband the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which was beginning to strengthen its grip on the country. Forty-six years later, on International Labor Day, thousands of Indonesians from various unions and associations voiced almost the same demands as Gerakan 66. On Tuesday, they pressed for higher minimum wages, lower food prices and the implementation of Law No. 24/2011 on social security. Thousands of workers also demanded that the controversial outsourcing law be repealed on the grounds that it is inhumane, merciless and deprives them of any extra compensation or benefits. These May Day demands remain very relevant at a time when injustices are still felt and minimum welfare standards have yet to be achieved nationwide. The All-Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) said that luckily the government did not raise fuel prices on April 1, because “otherwise food prices would have skyrocketed further and people, in this case the workers, would have suffered even more.” Law No. 24/2011 is high on the workers’ agenda because they all long for better social security. However, since being passed the law has been met with reluctance on the part of the government and the state-owned insurance company Jamsostek. Opponents say the law, which was proposed by the opposition in the House of Representatives, hampers the control and management of social security funds. Workers realize that they too have to chip in by boosting productivity. But despite meeting this yardstick, they are yet to be treated as respectable human beings and accepted as an important part of the economic well-being of the country. Without workers, the nation would not have become an almost $ 1 trillion economy, the largest in Southeast Asia. Indonesian workers earn the third-lowest wages in Asia, beating only Burma and Cambodia. But changing this will be difficult: The process of deciding minimum wage levels contains weaknesses from the institutional, infrastructure and human resources point of view. This reverberated in Tuesday’s mass protests. Meanwhile, employers have always argued that increasing wages would result in low profitability and drive away foreign investors. They also say that the high costs due to rampant corruption and red tape form an obstacle to increasing wages. Seeking a win-win solution between unions and employers seems difficult indeed. The joint secretariat of the National Confederation of Labor Unions has urged regional wage councils (DPDs) to push for higher minimum wages in accordance with rising prices and to reflect the booming domestic economy. But such wage councils, which consist of people from various companies’ human resources departments, often fail to fully understand the gravity of the situation. DPDs have so far been established in 167 districts and cities — out of a total of 540 councils planned. But the DPDs don’t have a uniform policy on formulating wages. They often copy the policies of other regions, which may not always be suitable. The unions have called on the Manpower Ministry to do something about this. And they refuse to be blamed for hampering investment and economic growth. Workers say they only want minimum wages to be in line with the living wage index. The unions also refuse to be blamed for the anarchic actions of groups of demonstrators. They point out that it is the government’s task to protect workers and the freedom of expression. Most employers are defensive when it comes to the May Day protests, as regulations are currently in their favor. The Indonesian Employers Association keeps warning of investment flight and stresses that the prices of bribes to officialdom remain high. But the Central Statistics Agency has found that wages remain low compared to overall production costs. Wages currently constitute only 20 percent of total production costs while the profit margin of businesses would allow for considerably more. Wages should ideally take up as much as 40 percent of production costs to guarantee worker welfare. The fact that this percentage now stands at 20 proves that 46 years after Trikura, there is still a great need for labor reform. Yanto Soegiarto is managing editor at Globe Asia, a sister publication of the Jakarta Globe [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
