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Workers plan to hold waves of protests against omnibus jobs law until Nov. 10

Source
Jakarta Post - October 26, 2020

Jakarta – Workers united under the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) have planned to continue staging protests against the controversial Job Creation Law until Nov. 10, longer than what was previously predicted by the government.

KSPI president Said Iqbal assured the public that the planned rallies would be nonviolent in nature.

"The KSPI and other worker unions will stage the protests in a measured and constitutional manner," Said Iqbal said in a statement on Monday as quoted by tempo.co. "The rallies will take place peacefully, lawfully and without anarchy."

Coordinating Legal, Political and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD previously cited intelligence reports saying that protests against the jobs law would be conducted only until Oct. 28, the day when President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is expected to sign the law.

The House of Representatives passed the omnibus bill on job creation into law on Oct. 5, giving the President 30 days until at least Nov. 5 to give his approval. However, even without Jokowi's signature, the law will still go into effect automatically after a month since its passage.

The State Palace said on Friday that the State Secretariat had completed the review on the law and that Jokowi was ready to sign it.

Said Iqbal stated that the rallies would take place starting from Nov 2.

Thousands of workers have planned to surround two locations in the capital city, namely the Presidential Palace compound and the Constitutional Court building in Central Jakarta.

Also on Nov. 2, the KSPI along with the All-Indonesia Workers Union Confederation (KSPSI) and 32 other worker unions would file a judicial review challenging the Job Creation Law at the court.

Thousands of workers from 24 provinces all across the archipelago would also stage simultaneous protests on Nov. 2 in their respective regions, including in Greater Jakarta, Serang and Cilegon in Banten, Bandung in West Java and Surabaya in East Java.

The 24 provinces would see similar waves of demonstrations on Nov. 9 and 10, during which protesters would focus on demanding the House revoke the law through legislative review.

The workers would also ask for an 8 percent increase in the 2021 minimum wages amid talks of a zero wage raise in 2021 due to the country's poor economic performance this year. (nal)

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/10/26/workers-plan-to-hold-waves-of-protests-against-omnibus-jobs-law-until-nov-10.htm

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