Bayu Marhaenjati & Carla Isati Octama – In a heated dispute over minimum wages, thousands of Bekasi workers blocked the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road after noon prayers on Friday to protest a court ruling in favor of their employers.
The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) has successfully challenged a West Java gubernatorial decree that raised the minimum monthly wage in Bekasi district from Rp 1.29 million to Rp 1.49 million ($144 to $167) at the Bandung State Administrative Court.
The provincial governor was ordered on Thursday to issue a new decree based on an earlier agreement between the employers association and workers.
In response, the workers blocked the busy road that connects Jakarta and Bandung with their motorcycles on Friday, while others rode to all seven industrial zones in the area to raise support for their cause. The protests forced businesses in the area to close down for the day. But at dusk, the laborers disbanded peacefully.
The coordinator of the Bekasi Workers in Action (B3) union, Obon Tabroni, told the Jakarta Globe that the workers would not end their protests until their wage demands are met.
"We are ready, because we are tired of being poor. We only ask for a small increase," Obon said. "We are afraid if we walk alone, but we are together now. There are thousands of us."
Apindo had argued that the decree ignored the provincial Wage Council's non-binding recommendation to raise the minimum wage by 5 percent, not 15.97 percent as the decree said.
Ferry Asrul, who heads the Labor Union Forum for the MM2100 Industrial Zone, said that the workers would rest on the weekend but resume their actions on Monday if no wage agreement was reached.
"On Saturday and Sunday, we plan not to protest. We will rest first. However, if there is no new agreement by Monday, we will return in even greater numbers," Ferry said.
He added that the protests were no longer directed against Apindo but against companies in the area. He urged each company to enter into written agreements with their workers, promising to abide by the stipulations of the gubernatorial decree that was rejected by the court. The disruptions will continue until all companies in Bekasi have done so, Ferry said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ordered Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar on Friday to actively communicate with the workers "so that an agreement is reached," presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said. Julian said that blocking off the toll road had "disadvantaged a lot of people."
A spokesman for the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, Suhartono, urged Apindo to not to solely base its stance on the Bandung court verdict.
Suhartono said it would be better if Bekasi employers would pay their workers the amount stipulated in the gubernatorial decree if they could afford it. He added that factories unable to do so should start negotiating with their workers.
Muhaimin called on the labor unions "to provide the governor and the entrepreneurs the opportunity to reach a negotiated settlement."
Apindo deputy chairman Anton J. Supit said that he understood what the workers were fighting for but demanded that they not disturb the public order. There is always room for negotiation, he insisted.
[Additional reporting by Arientha Primanita & Anita Rachman.]