Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Labor unions pooled their resources Wednesday in stepped-up protests nationwide against planned revisions to the labor law, with worker absenteeism due to demonstrations of the past two weeks causing mounting losses to industry.
Rallies have spread from Jakarta and provincial capitals in Java and Sumatra to industrial areas on the two main islands.
Workers in industrial zones in North Sumatra, Riau, South Sumatra, Jakarta, West, Central and East Java left their workplaces to demand the dropping of the planned revisions.
The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) criticized the government for its failure to take a constructive approach to calming the protests, which they say are causing billions of rupiah in losses to their members.
"The labor demonstrations have cost investors Rp 32 billion in West Java and Rp 52 billion in East Java," the association's secretary-general Djimanto told The Jakarta Post.
He added that many companies in the manufacturing sector would likely miss their schedule to meet foreign orders because of the millions of hours of lost productivity due to the demonstrations.
He insisted, however, that the revisions – including reducing severance pay for retrenchment and extending contract work periods – were needed to improve the business climate.
"It is impossible for employers to go back on these because all the things we proposed in the revisions are substantial in nature. All stakeholders should be rational in assessing the current condition, otherwise a worse second crisis will hit the country," he said.
In Jakarta, an estimated 50,000 protesters, hailing from Bekasi, Cimahi, Bandung, Tangerang, Serang, Cilegon and other industrial estates near Jakarta, rallied in front of the Vice President's office on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan, Central Jakarta, as well as the Presidential Palace.
Some demonstrators took part in a convoy of open trucks and motorcycles that traveled along the city's turnpikes. Several worker representatives met with Kalla, who told them the revisions needed further discussion.
David C.H., chairman of the All-Indonesian Workers Union, the largest labor union in the country, said the meeting with Kalla had not changed the group's resolve to continue protests until the government met their demands. The rallies, he added, were expected to reach their peak on Labor Day on May 1.
There were pockets of unrest among the protesters, with vandalism of streetlamps, bus shelters and a bus on the busway. Police personnel, outnumbered by the protesters, did not intervene.
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Firman Gani, who made an inspection of the rally, said protesters informed the police several days before of the mass rally, but emphasized it would not be "anarchical".
The chairwoman of the Democratic People's Party, Dita Indah Sari, said that despite the many differences of opinion among labor unions, they were united in their opposition to revisions they claim impinge on worker rights.
"We are carrying out cooperation with many labor unions in all parts of the country. So far, all of them are ready to mobilize their people," she said.
"We are going to continue holding rallies against the revisions." She said she was invited to a tripartite meeting of the government, Apindo and labor union representatives, scheduled for April 12, to discuss the issue.
The operational unit chief of the city police, Sr. Comr. Komang Udayana, said his officiers encountered no major problems in dealing with the thousands of protesters. Police said they would remain on alert for more protests in the next few days.