Tangerang – About 300 workers from the Alliance of Indonesian Labor Unions Congress (KASBI) distributed information on new minimum wage rules.

At a rally on Monday, the workers distributed copies of a gubernatorial regulation dictating sectoral wages for 2013 for industrial firms.

KASBI coordinator Sunarno said that 134 local companies have delayed implementing the wage hikes, claiming fears of bankruptcy and threatening to fire employees or to relocate their factories.

"Through this rally, we are trying to familiarize workers with the new wage rules and the obligation of their employers to meet our demands. This will be a peaceful rally, because we have written to the management of the industrial firms to let representatives of their workers meet with us," he said.

In a decree issued in December, Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah raised the monthly minimum wage for Tangerang municipality to Rp 2.2 million (US$227).