Dessy Sagita – A labor union official has welcomed Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama's promise to negotiate a higher minimum wage, but not if it is a product of the media euphoria and rock-star treatment being lavished on the city's new leaders.
Said Iqbal, president of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI), said on Thursday that Basuki's initiative to meet with protesting workers and publicly chide manpower officials was much appreciated.
However, he said the move should not merely be part of the media frenzy that has surrounded Basuki and his boss, Joko Widodo, since they took office earlier this month. "Their programs for their first 100 days in office don't address the minimum wage issue, which is something that they should have been considering long before," he said.
"Our demonstration [outside City Hall] on Wednesday was a reminder to Joko and Basuki not to get distracted by all the media attention focusing on their every step."
Basuki met with the protesting KSPI workers on Wednesday to address their demand that the city's minimum wage be increased from Rp 1.5 million ($156) per month to nearly Rp 2.8 million a month.
He expressed shock at the discrepancy between the way that the city administration determined the minimum wage, based on 48 factors, and the way that the national Manpower and Transmigration Ministry had recommended that it be calculated, based on 64 factors.
"Why did we not use the calculation based on the minister's decree?" Basuki asked Deded Sukandar, the head of the Jakarta Manpower Office, during the meeting with the workers.
Stuttering, Deded said he would need to study whether it was feasible to use the central government's calculation. "Why do you still need to study this? I am your superior. If you mess around I can fire you," Basuki said.
The deputy governor also went on to admonish other manpower officials at the meeting for taking notes by hand when they had their notebook computers open in front of them.
But he added the Rp 2.8 million per month minimum wage proposed by the KSPI was too high, and proposed more discussions between the unions and employers to reach a compromise.
Iqbal indicated that the KSPI was prepared to lower its demand, but only to Rp 2.5 million. He argued that the unions had already ceded a lot of ground on the minimum wage calculation, pointing out that they had agreed to the Manpower Ministry's list of 64 factors, despite initially pushing for 86.
He said the ministry would only re-evaluate the number of factors next year, but the workers hoped to see an increase in the minimum wage this year.
Iqbal said the unions under the KSPI, which represent some 10 million workers nationwide, would meet on Nov. 15 to discuss the progress on meeting their demand, as well as the possibility of staging a nationwide strike if the progress was deemed unsatisfactory.