Pandemic Covid-19 Is Not the Reason to Delay the Discussion of the Omnibus Law Bill
By: Anwar Zahid (Chair of the Surabaya Regional Publication Literacy Movement)
If the big question is Covid-19 appropriate to delay the discussion and ratification of the Employment Copyright Bill? The answer is no!
Because Covid-19 cannot cause a legal vacuum, oversight of the course of government and the economy is getting worse. Those who object to the postponement of the discussion of the current Copyright Bill only want the economy to worsen for a certain purpose.
At least there are some recent developments that cause this work copyright bill needs to be resolved immediately, namely:
The shoe and bicycle industry has already laid off employees because of sluggish demand.
This was stated by Executive Director of the Indonesian Footwear Association or Aprisindo, Firman Bakrie, said that the closure of the shoe and bicycle factory began in early June 2020 due to lack of demand.
Nearly half of the domestic shoe manufacturers will lay off workers at the beginning of the second quarter / 2020 around 800,000 workers. Meanwhile, data from the Bicycling Industry Association (AIPI) at the end of the quarter I / 2020, there were three factories that stopped production and laid off 1,000 employees.
Meanwhile, data from the Ministry of Manpower, until April 1, the total number of workers affected by layoffs (PHK) reached 2,311 people from 56 companies in Indonesia, and as many as 9,183 workers were laid off.
The property and housing industry is experiencing cash flow problems due to Covid-19.
According to Junaidi Abdillah who is also the Chairperson of the Association of Indonesian Housing and Settlement Developers, currently the public is holding back purchasing power temporarily affected by Covid-19, causing cash flow to be disrupted. Meanwhile, Ali Tranghanda who is also Executive Director of Indonesia Property Watch said the cash flow problem occurred because loan interest rates were still high in a number of banks.
Based on the findings of Indonesia Property Watch, middle class developers can last up to 1 month to 3 months. The lower class developers can only last 1 month. Home loan disbursement in April until the end of 2020 is projected to be increasingly slowed affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In addition, the steel and manufacturing industries also experienced a drastic decline.
The ceramic, sheet glass and basic chemical industries are experiencing a shrinking market.
Based on data from the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), the productivity of the Indonesian manufacturing sector dropped to 45.3 in March 2020, so that many employers chose to lay off employees.
The Air Transportation Industry Also Conducts employee layoffs
Denon Prawiratmadja, Chair of the Indonesia National Air Carriers Association, said that Air Asia had suspended operations for domestic routes until April 21, 2020 and international routes until April 17, 2020. Trans Nusa Airlines temporarily suspended operations until April 15, while Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air The group and Sriwijaya cut their flight services. This led to layoffs, and bankruptcy in downstream industries such as aircraft repair shops, ground handling, travel agents, and hotels.
Meanwhile, as many as 1,174 hotels as of 1 April 2020 have already been laid off. Meanwhile, public transportation services such as buses have decreased by 80%.
However, the Work Creation Bill is not feasible to be rejected by workers and student elements, because this Bill is the most modern legal product which is a complete and comprehensive solution to overcome Indonesia’s crucial problem today, which is to reduce the number of unemployment that is increasingly swollen due to Covid-19. Hopefully those who still refuse to realize as soon as possible because it is for the sake and interests of the entire Indonesian people.
