Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Employers have tasked the government and labor unions with settling unresolved issues on contract hiring and high severance pay, in a bid to foster a friendlier investment climate.
Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) chairman Sofjan Wanandi said the crucial issues hampering the inflow of foreign investment were not the sole responsibility of employers or even the government, but of the entire nation.
He added they could be settled "only if we are all committed to boosting economic growth, alleviating poverty and coping with unemployment".
"Employers are ready to meet with the government and labor unions to settle these protracted issues haunting employers and workers," he said Friday during the presentation of journalism awards on labor issues.
Sofjan also warned of the global crisis hitting the country's formal sector, saying 70 percent of the workforce was underpaid and unprotected in the informal sector.
"In the past five years, investment only took place in natural resources, plantations, services and other capital-intensive industries, while many labor-intensive manufacturing industries, such as garment and shoe factories, had to rationalize their labor due to decreasing foreign orders because of the global crisis," he said.
He also suggested the more than 100 labor unions should merge and form a single confederation and appoint a single representative, instead of the current 15, who could handle social dialogues and pursue decent work and pay for all.
Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar pledged the government's commitment to renegotiating the issues with employers and labor unions in a bid to revise the 2003 law on labor.
"The empowerment of the national tripartite institutions is urgent to help pursue the government's targets of reaching 7 percent economic growth, reducing poverty to 10 percent from the current 14 percent, and the unemployment rate to 5 percent from the current 8.1 percent," he said, adding the three-way dialogues had so far not been optimized.
Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPI) chairman Thamrin Mossi said it was the government's constitutional duty to create jobs for the people, while labor unions were tasked with representing workers in collective bargaining and fighting for workers' rights and social welfare.
He also criticized the government for not implementing eight core ILO conventions and seven general ones that it had previously ratified, saying this had contributed to the widespread violation of worker rights. Thamrin declined to comment on the increasing demands for unions to unite.
The Confederation of Indonesian Prosperous Labor Unions (KSPSI) chairman Rekson Silaban expressed disappointment with two other confederations and other labor unions that had declined to merge in a bid to strengthen workers' bargaining position.
"The increasing demands for a merger are in line with global trends, where Europe only has only confederation, the ICTU (International Confederation of Trade Unions)," he said.
"The numerous trade unions here have proved ineffective in representing workers. Having a single national confederation would inspire workers to form a political labor party or force the existing parties to fight for pro-labor policies."
Officials from the KSPSI, the KSPI and the Confederation of All Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPSI) met recently in Sukabumi, West Java, at a talk hosted by the Friederich Ebert Stiftung (FES) and the American Council on International Labor (ACIL).
However, no progress toward a merger in the immediate future was made, with the unions agreeing only to seek common issues they could cooperate on and fight for. (nia)