Ridwan Max Sijabat – Manpower and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno gathered with top aides in a daylong meeting Thursday, amid increasing signs the government may bow to pressure to scrap planned revisions to the 2003 Labor Law.
Ministry spokesman Djoko Mulyanto told The Jakarta Post here the closed-door meeting was held in response to the massive labor rallies blanketing major cities and industrial hubs in Sumatra and Java over the last two weeks.
"The all-day meeting is being held to prepare raw materials to be used by the President in a dialog with labor union leaders at his presidential office on Friday," he said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to announce the government's decision on the planned revisions. Djoko refused to confirm reports Wednesday the President summoned Erman and informed him the revisions would be dropped.
Labor unions denounced the revisions which include more flexible rules on contract-based employment and worker dismissalsas diminishing their rights and welfare. Employers argue the revisions are necessary to reinvigorate the sluggish economy and increase competitiveness with other countries in the region.
Workers have left their jobs to demonstrate against the draft law, and have garnered the support of local administrations. Labor unions, who organized a rally of 50,000 workers Wednesday in Jakarta, say they plan a massive nationwide protest on May 1, Labor Day, and a national strike if their demands are not met.
Worker absenteeism has paralyzed many industries and reportedly caused billions of rupiah in losses to business.
Some protests also have been marred by violence. On the island of Batam, an industrial zone in Riau Islands province, demonstrators were involved in clashes with security personnel Thursday. Wednesday's huge rally in Jakarta, the second in as many days, also included incidents of vandalism of public property.
The law is one of several to be revised under Presidential Instruction No. 3/2006, issued to attract foreign investors and improve the business climate.
Erman has emphasized the revisions are not final and could still be changed according to labor demands. "We are ready for dialog but not to negotiate workers' rights," the deputy chairman of the All-Indonesia Workers Union Federation, Syukur Sarto, said in confirming Friday's meeting with Yudhoyono.
"We will only accept a revision as long as it does not omit even a dot of workers' rights from the current law." He added workers agreed to temporarily halt the rallies after the minister agreed to review the planned revisions.
"If a revision is needed, we want the government-prepared draft law to be dropped and the three main stakeholders will sit together to discuss which chapters of the law need revising," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said labor unionists would not back down from their position in their meeting with Yudhoyono, and warned rallies would resume if workers' rights were reduced.
The secretary-general of the Indonesian Employers Association, Djimanto, said his members would also maintain their position on the necessity of revising the law. "What we are fighting for benefits not only the business sector but also the national economy and millions of job seekers," he said.