Suherdjoko, Semarang – Thousands of workers staged a rally at the Central Java gubernatorial office on Thursday demanding that minimum wages in 2010 be raised to meet the cost of decent living standards (KHL) in the region.
The workers, affiliated with the Indonesian Labor Union Federation and the National Labor Union, arrived from various areas and companies on trucks, cars and motorcycles.
They displayed posters with messages such as, "Wages must be set according to decent living needs", and "To live and die reasonably".
Protest coordinator Fajar Utomo said that only three of the 35 regencies and mayoralties in Central Java had set their minimum wages based on the KHL survey, while based on the gubernatorial decree on minimum wages in regencies and municipalities in 2010, the percentage of wages had only reached 91.73 percent of KHL.
"That's why the governor must revise this decision. The amount of workers' wages should equal the amount recommended in the KHL survey. This is the bottom line and we don't want to negotiate any longer," said Fajar.
The survey conducted by the Central Java remuneration council shows the average amount of next year's KHL for regencies and municipalities in the province is Rp 801, 201 per month, while their determined minimum wage is only Rp 734,874 on average.
Thousands of workers in Semarang also held a similar rally on Nov. 11. They rejected the city's minimum wage (UMK) proposed by the Semarang mayor of Rp 893,000 in 2010, instead demanding Rp 944,538.
They argued the mayor's UMK proposal was not in line with the recommendation from the KHL survey by the Semarang remuneration council. Their demand was finally accepted and the UMK for Semarang was raised to Rp 940,000 per month.
Hundreds of workers in Tegal, Central Java were also protesting about insufficient wages on Thursday. "The 2010 KHL for Tegal is Rp 798,000 per month, but only Rp 700,000 has been agreed for the city's minimum wage," protest leader Slamet Hidayat told Antara state news agency.
He said the set wage for Tegal workers was not in line with the economic growth and inflation, which reached 6 percent. Under the 2003 Manpower Law, Slamet argued, minimum wages must equal KHL by taking the inflation rate into account.
Employers in Tegal proposed the wage be set at only Rp 650,000, but the amount was later agreed at Rp 700,000, an increase of Rp 89,000 from the 2009.