INDONESIAN WORKERS EXPRESS CONCERN ABOUT EXPATRIATES

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, May 1 (Antara) - Thursday's May Day has served as a momentum to call for not only workers' welfare improvement but also to express concerns about expatriate, agrarian, environment and electricity tariff hike issues.          They expressed concern about the government's plan to raise electricity tariffs for industries, which they said will increase production costs, as well as their concern on the possible influx of expatriates into Indonesia when the ASEAN Economic Community comes into effect in 2015.          Environment activists, meanwhile, hoped that the May Day will serve as a momentum to call for reforms in the agrarian sector as a part of the industrialization process.          "After all, this year is a political year for Indonesia. Workers should be able to express their real aspirations on the agrarian reform as a precondition for the national industrialization process," Irhash Ahmady, an executive director of the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi), said here on Thursday.          The executive director said workers should avoid being involved in the discourse developed by political elites. However, the May Day 2014 is a perfect momentum for the people's movement to urge the government to stop 'exploitation' of laborers' wage, land and natural resources.

JAKARTA POLICE TO DEPLOY 19,000 PERSONNEL ON MAY DAY

 By Andi Abdussalam

          Jakarta, April 30 (Antara) - The Jakarta Police will deploy some 19,557 personnel to guard the May Day rallies in the capital city where about 7,000-10,000 workers plan to hold rallies for two days on Thursday and Friday.
         Of the 19,557 police personnel, about 3,000 are traffic police officers who will maintain order in traffic, and help it flow and avoid gridlocks.
         "Police officers will also help guard laborers from their gathering points to their rally destinations," Deputy Director for Traffic Police of the Jakarta Regional Police, Adjunct Senior Commissioner Sambodo Purnomo said here on Wednesday.
         He said there were 14 points of destinations for workers to hold rallies in Jakarta. These points included the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, the Mardeka Palace, the Parliament building, the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration and the Bung Karno Sports Stadium.

GOVT HOPES FOR PEACEFUL LABOUR RALLIES

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, April 30 (ANTARA) - The government hopes that the rallies which are to be held by about 170,000 workers throughout the country to observe International May Day on Tuesday will be conducted in a peace and orderly manner without any lawless or anarchic acts.          "In principle, the government hails and supports the observance of the international workers' solidarity day (May Day). I hope the celebrations will be held in a conducive situation like that in previous years," said Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar.          The minister called on workers and employers to work together so as to celebrate May Day through various positive activities.          "Let's use the May Day celebrations as a momentum to increase prosperity and work productivity. The May Day spirit is expected to become a main driver so that the government, businessmen and workers would cooperate in increasing workers' prosperity," he added.          According to the ministry¿s records, until the end of 2011, there were 6 confederations of workers' associations/labour unions (SP/SB); 91 SP/SB federations; 11,852 SP/SB in private companies and 170 SP/SB in state firms.          In Indonesia, the total number of SP/SB members amounts to 3.4 million people.          According to Media Indonesia, about 170,000 workers throughout Indonesia are expected to participate in street rallies to celebrate May Day on Tuesday. In Jakarta and its buffer zone areas, about 15,000 people from 8 labour federations are expected to hold rallies.          The plan is to undertake a long march from the Hotel Indonesia Traffic Circle to the Proclamation Monument. During the rallies, the workers will present four-point demands outlining their rejection of the government workers' outsourcing system and demanding that the government eliminate corruption in bureaucracies, nip the labour-judiciary mafia in the bud and grant reasonable payment to workers.          "The absence of these four points has, so far, clearly robbed workers of their rights," remarked Bambang Eka, the president of the Labour Working Group.          He stated that the contract-work practices imposed on outsourced workers obviously robbed workers of their right to a livelihood. "There is no work certainty and no severance pay, which causes workers to become poorer and poorer," Bambang added.          According to Sofjan Wanandi, chairman of the Indonesian Businessmen Association (Apindo), labour conditions in Indonesia, particularly in the informal sector, are quite distressing.         "The conditions of workers in the informal sector, which absorbs some 70 percent of workers, are quite saddening. Their fate must be improved," he stressed.          After all, workers are a nation's assets. Their contribution to the national development is huge and has been proved to support national economic development. Nevertheless, the public perception still is that the workers' conditions in the country are bad and need to be improved.         Daily Kompas pointed out in its poll that the public still views worker welfare and legal protection for workers as a matter of concern. Over three-fourths of the respondents believed that the payment granted to workers was not enough to meet their basic needs.          In the meantime, employers, in the eyes of the public, are still reluctant to pay workers reasonably because they are more interested in accumulating profits. Though this is seen as a classical problem, there have been no significant efforts so far to improve worker conditions.          According to the public perception, the government does little to provide legal protection to workers. Therefore, the poll revealed that the public would encourage the government to improve four aspects of the situation, namely, social insurance, worker status, labour disputes, and discrimination between local workers and expatriates.         Regarding the legal issues, Rulita Wijayaningdyah of the Indonesian Forestry and Wood Workers Union (SP Kahutindo) was quoted by the Jakarta Globe as admitting that many cases were stalled in the court and remained unresolved because of appeals, in addition to the cases that "we have lost."     She added that although the Constitution and the 2003 Manpower Law clearly sided with workers, stipulating that outsourced workers should receive the same benefits as permanent employees, the problem was rooted in a lack of enforcement.         "The regulations are positive, but there is a problem with implementing them," she pointed out.          She declared that for May Day, SP Kahutindo intended to mobilize some 10,000 workers to participate in demonstrations across the country and join rallies demanding the full recognition of outsourced workers' rights, along with higher minimum wages.          In anticipation of the demonstration on Tuesday, Jakarta police spokesman Senior Commissioner Rikwanto stated that Jakarta would deploy some 16,000 security personnel to keep demonstrations under control.          "We have received notifications from several unions and groups who intend to take part in the rallies. We estimate that there will be some 50,000 demonstrators coming from all over Jakarta," the Jakarta Globe quoted Rikwanto as saying.          Meanwhile, the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration expressed hopes that workers as well as employers would observe the May Day rallies through positive activities such as participating in social service, seminars and sports activities.         "Observe May Day this year through social service and other peaceful activities. If you want to stage demonstrations, you should do it in a peaceful and orderly manner," the minister added.***3*** (T.A014/INE/O001) 30-04-2012 14:42:

THOUSANDS TO DEMONSTRATE IN JAKARTA ON MAY DAY

  BY Andi Abdussalam

           Jakarta, April 30 (ANTARA) - Tens of thousands of workers will take to the streets in the capital city of Jakarta on Saturday and Monday to observe International Workers' Day and to demand better pay and improved welfare.

         The Jakarta Regional Police said about 10,000 workers would stage rallies on Saturday while the Confederation of All Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPSI) disclosed that it would hold rallies on Monday with about 40,000 demonstrators.

         In the face of the demonstrations, the Jakarta Police will mobilize about 15,000 personnel to maintain security and public order during the rallies.

         "We have predicted that about 10,000 workers till take to the streets to observe International Workers' Day. We base our calculation on the numbers mentioned in reports from various elements of the public to the Jakarta Police," Jakarta Police spokesman Snr Com Boy Rafli Amar said on Friday.

         He said  there were 16 elements of the public planning to hold rallies in Jakarta on Labor Day on Saturday. They consisted of company employees and industrial workers.

         On the other hand the KSPSI said it will not hold rallies on Saturday but on Monday. It will demonstrate outside the Parliament building to reject the government's plan to raise power prices.

         "We will not hold the rally on  May Day (Saturday) but on Monday. We will mobilize around 40,000 workers," KSPSI acting chairman  Mathias Tambing said.

         He said usually workers held their rallies on  International Workers' Day (May Day) on May 1, but this year the rallies would be held on Monday because May 1 coincided a holiday, Tambing said.

         He said that KSPSI would carry out its actions on a working day so that the aspirations it was fighting for would be heard by legislators in the House. Workers during their demonstrations will voice ten  demands to the government.

         "They will reject the government's plan to raise the basic electricity tariffs (TDL) because it would put a burden on laborers," Mathias said.

         The labor confederation will also ask the government to increase the value of workers' non-taxable income from Rp1.2 million to Rp5 million. "We also refuse the imposition of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA). This is to protect businesses because the government is not yet able to find solutions to their problems," Mathias said.

         Other demands included a request for the revision of Law No. 3 / 1992 on sate enterprises (BUMN) and replace it with a trusteeship system. The workers social insurance firm, PT Jamsostek, was set up with money collected from workers but it was later turned into  a state-owned company.

         Mathias said the money should have been managed by a board of trustees so that workers and employers could take part in its supervision. The demonstrating workers will also demand the revitalization of manpower supervision, reject the revision of Law No.3 /2003 on labor unions and demand  better severance pay, elimination of case brokers and for the issuance of an adhoc procedural law on labor matters.

         According to Mathias, the laborers would make their demand during their rallies on Monday.

         But thousands of other workers will hold rallies on Saturday, exactly on May 1, which is  International Workers Day or May Day. The Jakarta Regional Police  predicted that about 10,000 workers will take to the streets to observe May Day.

         "The predicted number of workers to observe  International Workers' Day is based on our calculation of the numbers mentioned in  reports from various elements of the public to the Jakarta Police," Boy Rafli Amar said.

         He said  there were 16 elements of the public planning to hold rallies in Jakarta on Labor Day on Saturday. They consisted of company employees and industrial workers.

         According to Fafli Amar the demonstrators would hold rallies in six places, namely outside the Presidential Palace, Vice Presidential Palace, Parliament building, Manpower Ministry,  the Workers Social Insurance Company (PT Jamsostek), the Hotel Indonesia (HI) Traffic Circle.

         To maintain security and order in the streets on Saturday, the Jakarta Police and  National Police Headquarters will deploy 15,000 personnel. "The number of personnel will be fielded in stages, not all at once," the Jakarta Police spokesman said.

         In anticipation of traffic jams during the rallies, Boy said that the Jakarta police had prepared a scheme to divert traffic flows in certain directions but it would be based on the conditions in the field.

         In this case, police called on demonstrators to air their aspirations in an orderly manner. They were also called on not to take animals with them in an effort to secure public order. Boy also explained that police will provide tight supervision for a number of factories to prevent sweeping by workers.

         It will also tightly control various gates into the capital city of Jakarta. This is because thousands of workers from Jakarta?s satellite towns of Tangerang, Depok, Bekasi and Bogor will also join Saturday?s demonstrations.

         About 5,000 workers from Tangerang district,  Banten province, will join their peers from Bogor, Bekasi and Depok.

         Coordinator of the Congress Alliance of he Indonesian Labor Unions (Kasbi) for Banten, Koswara said that about 5,000 workers from his alliance would flock to Jakarta.

         "Data we have collected indicate that the number of workers from Tangerang who will join the Jakarta rallies. They will take to the streets to voice their aspirations," Koswara said.

          He said that there were a number of demands that the workers would fight for, including their rejection of the outsourcing contract work, cheap pay, massive lay offs and the revision of Law No.13 / 2003 on manpower.

          The All Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) for Bekasi was reportedly to send to Jakarta about 4,000 workers for joining the Jakarta rallies.

          In the meantime, around 2,000 workers from Depok, an administrative city in West Java, will also join their friends  Saturaday's rallies in the capital city. "We will voice a number of demands to the House of Representatives (DPR) and the government," Sugiono, coordinator of Labor Unions Advocacy Team (TASPB) for Depok said.

    
(T.A014/A/HAJM/20:35/  ) April 30, 2010