Riri Rahayu, Jakarta – The Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) chairperson Shinta Kamdani responded to the demand for a 15 percent increase in the minimum wage voiced by the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) and the Labor Party. She stressed that business owners would follow government regulations.

"The government has the formula of UMP (provincial minimum wage). We follow the government regulations based on the formula," Shinta said when met at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Building on Tuesday, August 22, 2023.

Shinta explained that the wage hike would not be the same in all regions because it is based on provincial and city/district minimum wage regulations (UMR).

What is clear, however, is that the minimum wage is based on the safety net. "I think this is very important for those who work in a company for one year. Those who work for more than a year already have a wage scale and they (employers) have followed it," said Shinta.

As previously reported, Labor Party President Said Iqbal demanded a 15 percent wage increase in a virtual press conference, on Monday, August 21, 2023. He emphasized that a wage increase is reasonable considering that the wages for ASN, TNI, and Polri were increased by 8 percent and for pensioners by 12 percent.

Iqbal assumed that the 8 percent increase was calculated from economic growth and inflation. "The economic growth is 5.2 percent and inflation is 2.8 percent, so that they meet at 8 percent," he said.

The wage increase, he emphasized, needs to be applied to workers as well. "We hope that there will be justice for the workers who are dedicated to the economic growth of the country," Said Iqbal concluded.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1762806/apindo-on-demand-for-minimum-wage-increase-we-follow-govts-rule