Hasyim Widhiarto, Jakarta – State worker insurance company PT Jamsostek announced Thursday it had registered 4,200 more companies in Jakarta as members during the first eight months of the year.

"As of August this year, with the workers from those companies, we now cover a total of 2.3 million employees working for 27,500 companies in the city," Agus Supriyadi, head of Jamsostek's Jakarta office, said Thursday on sidelines of a gathering with the Jakarta administration and representatives from the city's workers' unions.

Between January and August, the company paid out Rp 1.6 trillion (US$166 million) in claims, up from last year's figure of Rp 1.5 trillion. "Most of the money went toward paying pension funds," Agus said.

Jamsostek collects premiums from its members until they retire, and in return covers the costs for accidents, dismissals, layoffs and medical care, as well as pensions.

Workers' unions, however, say the numbers are nothing to boast about. Harjono, chairman of the All Indonesian Workers Union's (SPSI) Jakarta branch, told The Jakarta Post the city administration had to get more company to cover their workers.

"The Jakarta administration should run thoroughly check to make sure all employees, whether permanent or contract-based, have insurance," he said.

He pointed out the industrial bonded zone Kawasan Berikat Nusantara in Cakung, North Jakarta, where 50 percent of workers reportedly had no coverage.

"Most of them work in the garment and textile industry," he said. "How come the administration missed them?"

SPSI Jakarta is an umbrella group for 13 workers' federations that boast a combined 350,000 members.

Under existing regulations, a company that employs more than 10 workers, or pays its workers at least Rp 1 million a month, must register its employees for insurance.

With Jakarta's provincial minimum wage (UMP) currently at Rp 1.1 million per month, all 4.7 million workers in the formal sector in the capital are supposed to be covered by insurance.

However, because the 2003 Labor Law allows major companies to subcontract, many companies have sidestepped the regulation by employing workers through the outsourcing system.

Responding to the union's call, Jakarta Deputy Governor Prijanto urged all workers' unions to report to the city administration should they find companies not abiding by the regulations.

"As long as they submit a report with clear data, I'll be more than happy to receive it and follow up on it," he said.