Multa Fidrus and Fadli, Tangerang/Batam – In the latest of a series of rallies to demand better pay, tens of thousands of workers in Bekasi and Tangerang blocked roads connecting neighboring regencies to the capital on Thursday, causing severe traffic congestion.
Police again failed to prevent workers from occupying the roads, to the chagrin of motorists who had to endure hours of excruciating traffic queues.
In Bekasi, workers closed access to seven toll gates in the industrial area, causing traffic to snarl up to the inner city toll road. They barricaded access to the toll roads with dozens of motorcycles, causing three-kilometers of traffic congestion on Jl. Industri, heading into the Lippo Cikarang Industrial area and Jababeka I and II.
Workers from the Indonesia Metal Workers Association (SPMI) marched on Jl. Industri, making it difficult for motorists to pass Lippo Cikarang, Ejip and Jababeka I and II.
"Based on the information we received, thousands of workers blocked all toll gates in the industrial area, including Jababeka I, Jababeka II, MM2100 Cibitung, Lippo Cikarang, Ejip and Hyundai," Bekasi Traffic Police Adj. Comr. Tri Yulianto said.
In Tangerang, some 10,000 protested in front of the Tangerang office of the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) on Jl. Gatot Subroto, carrying banners, posters, and flags in the form of long marches and motorcycle convoys, leaving long traffic queues behind them of up to three hours.
Workers asked the association to withdraw the lawsuit it filed to the Bandung State Administrative Court (PTUN), challenging the West Java and Banten administrations' decisions on regional minimum wages.
Banten raised the minimum wage for workers in Tangerang by 10.79 percent from Rp 1,381,000 (US$145.6) last year to Rp 1,529,000. Bekasi has set the 2012 minimum wage at Rp 1,491,866, which is still considered as burdensome by employers.
"We demand that Apindo immediately withdraw their lawsuit," Poniman, Tangerang Raya Workers Alliance (SPTR) coordinator told The Jakarta Post.
Apindo chairman Sofjan Wanandi said he would still negotiate with the workers over wages and made it clear that the association had yet to decide if it would withdraw its lawsuit at the PTUN.
As laborers in Greater Jakarta demanded better pay, several workers from German multinational firm PT Varta Microbattery Indonesia in Batam went on strike on Thursday to protest at the firm's discriminatory policy on housing allowance.