By: Aditya Akbar) *
The company where the workers work, rejects labor demonstrations. The provincial minimum wage is considered high and adequate. Not only that the demonstration will hamper investment and hurt workers themselves.
It is undeniable that the times have made all needs rise, without exception. Not only basic needs, but to the bottom line and sometimes makes some people feel inconvenienced with the salary earned. However, in other cases the income or the Provincial Minimum Wage has been considered quite high. Especially in the capital city with a population that almost meets the entire city. No doubt, the amount of salary that has been large is considered to be insufficient for various needs.
Instead of getting the right solution, now a number of reports say that the union has filed a revision of PP 78/2015 regarding wages. Besides this workers’ demands have apparently arrived at the President’s side. When representatives of these workers came to the Bogor Palace.
Said Iqbal as President of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) along with Andi Gani Nena Wea was also stated to have been summoned by President Jokowi in September 2019. KSPI claimed that the visit to the Palace and demonstration was one of the strategies of the Concept, Lobby, Action, and Politics. Or popularly called KLAP. Which is this system is used as a tool to fight for workers’ demands. However, according to the news, this demo runs conducive and is quite short.
In addition to filing claims regarding revision, PP 78, it is said that there are two more labor requests, namely, rejecting the revision of the Manpower Law and refusing to increase BPJS Health fees. Said Iqbal said that after the demonstration, the government would quickly respond to the revision of PP No. 78. He also claimed that President Jokowi promised that the problem would be resolved soon.
In the meeting, Iqbal explained that there would be three teams sitting together to discuss this revision. Which is suspected to have been protested by workers in recent years. The three teams are the labor element team, the government and the entrepreneur team. Many parties assess that if this revision is made, the determination map and the amount of the Provincial Minimum Wage (UMP) in 2020 will experience changes.
Referring to the calculation of wages based on PP 78/2015 which also included the productivity and economic growth sectors that have been in effect since 2015, it may experience changes. For the businessman, this will surely be the fruit of Simalakama, and its certainty is unknown. Therefore it is necessary to have certainty or increase that can be predicted in the future and balanced with productivity. This is related to the UMP philosophy in the form of safety net and is valid for a work period of up to one year.
A similar opinion was expressed by Antonius Supit, as the General Chair of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Relations. He explained that the revision of PP 78/2015 would affect the UMP map itself. He explained if the stipulation of wages on the basis of this PP had provided certainty to business actors, which was judged not to be detrimental to workers, because they received minimum wages above inflation conditions.
However, the laborers expressed their objections. They considered that the workers were not included. Because, based on the wages of the city and regency, it previously involved the government, employers and also labor in the implementation of tripartite negotiations.
Meanwhile, the Chair of the Vice President’s Expert Team, Sofyan Wanandi, called for a strong statement against the demonstrations which were carried out more than once by the workers. He considered this action has exceeded the limit. Given this kind of thing can be resolved through other avenues. Sofyan also requested that these workers do not necessarily carry out their demonstration. If there are complaints, they can be channeled through the wage council. In addition, UPM is now considered to meet a decent standard of living.
He stated that this demonstration would prevent foreign investors from entering the country. He appealed to the workers to be able to understand this situation. Considering their work is also more or less influenced by these investors. Which also will harm the workers themselves.
With regard to this matter, it’s good, if this kind of problem is discussed with interested parties. Instead of a little demonstration, a demonstration which will disrupt the performance of the other party. Moreover, this demo has been confirmed that is not the best way to solve the problem.
) * The author is a social political observer