The Asia-Pacific International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) held its regional congress on June 16-19, 2009, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to assess labor conditions in the transport sector, make recommendations and refresh the regional organization. The four-day regional meeting elected Hanafi Rustandi from Indonesia as the new chairman for the 2009-2013 period. The following is an excerpt of an interview between Hanafi and The Jakarta Post's Ridwan Max Sijabat recently.
Question: What do you think of your election as the new chairman of the regional ITF?
Answer: This is the first time the London-based international labor organization has entrusted its leadership in the Asia-Pacific region to a non-commonwealth country. Previously, the position was dominated by Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and other commonwealth countries.
More than 100 delegates from 30 countries took part in the congress. The majority agreed it was very important to open a new era of relations with Indonesia, because as a major democratic country capable of creating change in the region over next four years, it holds a strategic role. The congress also expressed its deep concern about labor conditions in Indonesia and the country's migrant workers overseas.
How does the congress assess transport workers' conditions in Indonesia?
The congress focused on the violation of the ILO Convention No. 87 on the freedom of unions and the absence of labor standards and protection in the transport sector.
Like many other countries in the region, Indonesia has not yet provided protection for workers in the transportation sector. Bus drivers and conductors have no established industrial relations with their employers or bus companies and are not insured either under the social security program or commercially. They have no minimum wage and are easily dismissed without severance payments. Workers in the state train company have not yet signed a collective labor agreement with their management despite a series of industrial strikes in the past.
Despite having a number of airline companies, only state-owned Garuda Indonesia has signed a collective labor agreement with their pilots and cabin attendants. The poor management of safety aviation has deteriorated Indonesia's aviation industry and has led to the European Union extending the flight ban on Indonesian airlines across Europe.
Most seafarers employed in fishing ships and cargo vessels are paid below the minimum wage and are not insured while all port workers in loading and unloading jobs have no industrial ties or standard remuneration system.
What role is Indonesia expected to play?
The congress recommended that the Indonesian government repair labor conditions in the transport sector according to national and international standards. The government has to campaign for the formation of labor unions and collective labor agreements between workers and their employers to ensure minimum wages and social security protection is guaranteed for workers.
As a major democratic and Muslim country in the region, Indonesia could play a role influencing the post-election crisis in Iran and poor labor conditions in Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Nepal and Bangladesh.
ITF will convey the congress' recommendations to the three presidential hopefuls contending the upcoming presidential election and encourage workers to vote for whichever candidate commits to fighting for their aspirations and right.
What is your plan for repairing labor conditions in the transport sector?
ITF Indonesia has designed a number of plans of action in cooperation with its counterparts from Australia, South Korea and Japan, to campaign for equal treatment for workers in the transport sector in the region.
All workers in the land, air and sea transportation subsectors should unionize and arrange collective labor agreements with their employers to fight for job security and equal treatment at their workplaces. Australia, Japan and South Korea have pledged to provide financial and expert assistance to train Indonesian unionists in collective bargaining techniques.
In the short-term program, ITF Asia-Paficic will campaign for the formation of labor unions among taxi and bus drivers and encourage the workers to make collective labor agreement with their employers in an effort to pursue equal treatment and minimum wages for drivers and conductors.
Throughout the next four years, we will work toward our common goal of having all workers in the transportation sector, especially ground workers in airline companies and shipping companies and stevedores in all ports, to form unions to improve their bargaining power.
A part of 39 million poor people in Indonesia is in the transportation sector because most workers are still working for their individual employers such as bus owners and vessel owners who still pay them less than US$100 per month. What other issues were discussed during the congress?
Besides migrant workers and regional solidarity among labor unions in the region, the congress also paid serious attention to climate change, which has contributed to increasing air and sea accidents in the past few years, especially in Indonesia.
The congress supported the recent World Ocean Conference in Manado as it sought international and regional cooperation in sustainable marine exploration to reduce global warming and minimize sea and air accidents.
The congress recommended Indonesia suspend its large-scale modern fishing due to the migration of large fish from Indonesia to other countries and the deterioration of coral reefs nationwide.