Yuli Tri Suwarni and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Bandung/Surabaya – Rejection of both workers and employers marred the passage of the ruling of the minimum wage (UMK) for 2012 in Bandung, West Java, and Surabaya, East Java, on Monday.
In Bandung, rejection came from both local workers and employers association as West Java Governor Ahmad Heryawan endorsed the UMK for the province's 26 cities and regencies late Monday afternoon.
Heryawan, however, insisted there was no problem with the endorsement, arguing that the last minute decision was due to administrative matters. He claimed improvements had been made to the set wage, saying that it was according to or even above the decent living standards (KHL) of half of the cities and regencies in the province. "Last year, it was acceptable to only nine of the cities and regencies," he said.
The UMK levels proposed by Bogor regency and Cimahi municipality reportedly was rejected by workers while that of Bekasi municipality was rejected by employers.
A workers association in Bogor wanted a monthly minimum wage of Rp 1,386,113 (US$153.86) while Vice Regent Karyawan Fatrahman approved Rp 1,268,320. Similarly in Cimahi, a workers' union wanted an UMK of Rp 1,229,765 while the set wage reportedly was Rp 1,209,442.
"We will wait until Monday evening. We have permission to rally on Tuesday if our expectations are ignored," Cimahi National Workers Association (SPN) chairman Dadan Sudiana said.
Separately in Surabaya, the Association of Indonesian Employers (Apindo) rejected the 2012 UMK approved by East Java Governor Soekarwo on Sunday, arguing that five cities/regencies still encountered problems in the UMK decision mechanism.
East Java Apindo's wage coordinator, Johnson Simanjuntak, said the five were Surabaya municipality and the four regencies of Gresik, Sidoarjo, Pasuruan and Mojokerto. "The four [regencies] just followed Surabaya – We know the mechanism in Surabaya is problematic. We still reject it," Simanjuntak said.
Separately, East Java Welfare Agency chairman Edy Purwinarto told reporters that before the set wage was declared effective, employers could lodge objections that would discussed by the provincial Manpower and Population Agency. "An audit will be done to see whether a company is really not capable of applying the set wage," Edy said.
The Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers Association (FSPMI) also rejected the amount and demanded Rp 1.4 million. "East Java economic growth is 7.23 percent, exceeding that of the national rate of only 6.5 percent. Yet, it doesn't give wealth to workers," FSPMI spokesperson Jamaludin said.