Bagus Pribadi, Jakarta – The Labor Party and the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) expressed their support towards workers who recently staged massive demonstrations to reject the increase in the provincial minimum wage or UMP 2024, which they deemed insufficient to meet their daily needs.

"Workers are demanding that governors in industrial areas such as Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, Banten, Riau Islands, and other areas revise the decision on the 2024 UMP increase," the Labor Party President Said Iqbal said in a virtual press conference on Friday, December 15, 2023.

He pointed out that the hike in Jakarta's minimum wage is not in line with the living cost in the capital, which according to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) is close to Rp15 million per month.

"Compared to the 2023 UMP at Rp4.9 million, it's only a third of the cost of living. It's very unreasonable," Said argued.

The increase to Rp5.2 million per month in 2024, he added, still cannot meet the living needs based on the BPS data. Additionally, he said workers could not earn extra income because they worked all day.

"That's why the workers are frustrated and held a demonstration at the West Java Governor's Office yesterday, but there was no response. The traffic jam on the Cipularang Toll Road was caused by the angry workers, but they didn't close the road," he said.

On November 20, Said Iqbal threatened to organize a massive national strike if the government persists in the increase in the UMP 2024 below 15 percent. He stressed that this was necessary to make the government listen to what the workers were fighting for and negotiate with them.

Source: https://en.tempo.co/read/1809869/labor-party-protest-against-minimum-wage-hike-below-1