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Economic crisis hits more female workers

Source
Jakarta Post - May 5, 1998

Jakarta – Female workers have become the prime target of lay-offs and dismissals in Greater Jakarta, a women's organization said.

The Indonesian Women's Association for Justice (APIK), which has been monitoring labor relations in Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, said over the weekend that pregnant workers were the number one target of dismissals.

Spokeswoman for the association Sriwiyanti said other common victims were female workers on menstrual leave, those viewed as having the potential to lead labor strikes, and women approaching pensionable age.

Women make up 57.7 percent of textile, garment, and shoe factory workers, sales assistants, migrant workers and domestic helpers, according to the association.

In the industrial sector, women generally work in positions which are vulnerable to dismissal, and in many other sectors they have no legal protection at all, Sriwiyanti said.

"Women working in the informal sector, such as domistic helpers and migrant workers, are commonly abused, mistreated, denied regular payment and forced to work unpaid over time," she said as quoted by Antara.

Employers are using the worsening economic crisis to justify the current wave of lay-offs and dismissals, Sriwiyanti added.

"There is no question that the crisis has led many companies to the brink of bankruptcy but a lot of companies which have not been badly affected had used the issue to dismiss employees in the name of efficiency," she claimed.

Worse still, she pointed out, some companies were using the economic crisis to force through wage cuts among their employees and to justify withholding allowances.

In connection with international labor day that fell on May 1, APIK called on the government to do more to stop employers from arbitrarily dismissing employees, to take action against companies who exploited workers, and to punish owners who closed down companies resulting in large job losses, without going through the proper procedures.

It also urged the government to provide better legal protection to female workers who have fallen victim to the economic crisis adding that government economic policies should have the interests of ordinary people at heart.

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