Agus Maryono, Purbalingga – Over 10,000 employees in Purbalingga, Central Java, mostly of companies operated by foreign employers producing artificial eyelashes, have not yet received their deserved salaries as dictated by regional authorities, an official says.
Purbalingga Manpower Agency head Ngudiarto said that the figure accounted for some 30 percent of the total number of employees in the regency.
"We have been trying so that they receive the wages they deserve," Ngudiarto told The Jakarta Post at his office over the weekend. He said his agency had sent letters reprimanding the employers, who reportedly were mostly Korean nationals.
"We told them to pay the salaries in accordance with the prevailing regulations," he said. He added that from some 35,000 workers in the Purbalingga regency, only 24,000 had been paid according to the required minimum wage.
While the minimum wage in the regency is set at Rp 818,500 (US$90) per month, companies have allegedly paid workers below Rp 500,000 a month.
Purbalingga's monthly wage appears moderate compared with other regencies/municipalities in the province. The Semarang municipality has set the minimum wage at Rp 991,500 per month. Semarang municipality has the lowest cap in Cilacap regency at Rp 720,000.
Ngudiarto said that the companies accused of paying their employees below minimum wage mostly argued that the "underpaid" workers were apprentices or freelancers.
"We don't believe it, of course. A recent survey found that many of those employees had worked for the companies for over a year and were still paid under the cap," Ngudiarto said.
Wati, 19, an employee of a wig producer in Purbalingga, said that she had received Rp 400,000 per month for her first three months. She was paid only Rp 500,000 afterwards. "Yes, it's still far below the cap," said Wati, who hails from Sokaraja of the neighboring Banyumas regency.
Yuni, 20, of Padamara, Purbalingga, said she was paid Rp 600,000, even though she had been working for her company for three years.
Saryono of PT Tiga Putra Perkasa management, which apparently belongs to a Korean employer, confirmed that many of the company's employees had not yet been paid according to the prevailing minimum wage because they were still in training.
"We require three-month training for anyone to be accepted as an employee deserving payment according to the regulation. During training they receive only 80 percent of the standard salary," Saryono told the Post. Purbalingga is home to some 20 foreign investment companies producing wigs and artificial eyelashes. The products are exported mostly to Europe and the US.
The investment has been hailed as helping create job opportunities in the regency, especially for women, who make up 90 percent of some 35,000 laborers working in the industry. Many only have junior high school educations.
Ngudiarto said that companies failing to meet the requirements to pay their employees according to prevailing regulations were subject to sanctions, as stipulated within Law No. 13/2003 on Manpower.
"We need a long process, however, before we can actually impose sanctions, starting with warnings and reprimands, if necessary," he said, adding that the law carried a penalty of a year imprisonment for employers found violating regulations.
Ngudiarto said that his agency was still in the stages of issuing reprimand letters.
"I told the Korean employers that doing business here required them to follow the regulations that prevail in Indonesia," he said, adding that one company in particular had been under scrutiny for allegedly violating payment regulations.