Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) provincial administration has set the 2010 provincial minimum wage (UMP) at Rp 800,000 (about US$80), up from the current Rp 725,000.

Despite a rise of 10.3 percent, the majority of the workforce in NTT have aired their objection to the gubernatorial decision and demanded it be reviewed.

"The prices of basic daily necessities have increased. Where will we get the extra money to support our families, pay for our children's education and save for our old age if the UMP is only Rp 800,000," Marthen Nahak, a worker at the Nusa Lontar Port in Kupang, said.

Marthen said the government should have conducted a thorough survey to determine people's minimum living needs before setting the 2010 UMP.

"If they simply sit behind a desk and make the decision, the people will be the ones sacrificed. It is as if the authorities have sided with the government and not the people," Marthen said.

The decent minimum living needs of a blue-collar worker in NTT, he added, ranged between Rp 3 million and Rp 5 million. "Why are laborers only valued at Rp 800,000 per month. It's not even enough to buy rice and side dishes," he said.

NTT Manpower and Transmigration Office head Mat Wongso said the UMP increase had gone through revisions from the remuneration council and input and recommendations from the government.

"The 2010 UMP will be effective from Jan. 1. Every employer employing workers should adjust workers' salaries in line with the new UMP," Wongso said. A number of companies in Kupang acknowledged they had accepted the gubernatorial decision on the 2010 UMP.

"Based on a worker's decent standard of living, the amount of the UMP, at Rp 800,000, is probably adequate, because the government has so far subsidized a number of basic needs, such as clothing, so the workers can use their salaries for other basic needs," David Dethan, the owner of a supermarket in Kupang, said.

"As entrepreneurs, we expect the increase in the minimum wage should be followed by an improvement in the quality of work, to our mutual benefit," he added.

NTT legislative councilor Kristo Blasin expressed hope the government would not ignore the aspirations of workers who demanded a more appropriate salary scheme.

"I don't know whether or not workers were involved in determining the new UMP. The government should have heeded the workers' aspirations because, as workers, they should also be respected and paid appropriately," Blasin said