Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – To help cushion the impact of the fuel price and electricity tariff increases expected in April and May respectively, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar has promised to provide workers with transport, healthcare and housing subsidies.

The minister said he would fight for the subsidies to help workers survive the economic hardship as a result of the increasing burden on household budgets.

"We are unable to revise monthly wages. So, the subsidies will be a short-term solution to the impact of the fuel price hike," he said after welcoming Said Iqbal, the newly elected chairman of the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Union (KSPI), to his office on Friday.

Muhaimin declined to explain in detail the extent of the subsidies or how they would be distributed to workers because this would be further discussed among relevant ministries and government agencies.

He said low-income workers were the group of people, after the poor and the jobless, who would experience the worst impact of the unpopular policy which is expected to trigger soaring inflation in the price of basic commodities. Without subsidies, the workers' quality of life and purchasing power will deteriorate.

At the same event, the minister assured there would be no downsizing in the labor force, saying he had discussed it with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo).

During the meeting, Said informed the minister about a plan by labor unions to stage rallies continuously until May Day. The rallies will be staged jointly with students to protest the unpopular fuel policy and to press the government to seek alternatives and to ease workers' economic burdens.

"The purchasing power of workers will drop at least 10 percent because the recent wage hike was only around 10 percent while the price of premium gasoline will be raised by 33 percent to Rp 6,000 per liter from the current Rp 4,500. Workers and their families will not be able to go to clinics or public health centers when they fall sick because of increasing medicine prices and doctors' fees," he said.

He said trade unionists were certain that the government would raise the fuel price and power tariffs "but we will show our strong opposition and press the government to seek alternatives to assist low-income workers."

The ministry's Industrial Relations and Social Security Affairs director general Irianto Simbolon, who accompanied the minister at the meeting, said the government could set lower tariffs for workers and students after channeling transport subsidies to all public transportation, including passenger buses and trains.