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Jakarta Post

Most workers underpaid in East Java

Majority of workers in the province were underpaid in January with a strong call on authorities to take stern action against employers violating the governor decree on the minimum wages hike

A. Faisal and RM. Sijabat (The Jakarta Post)
SURABAYA
Mon, February 2, 2009

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Most workers underpaid in East Java

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ajority of workers in the province were underpaid in January with a strong call on authorities to take stern action against employers violating the governor decree on the minimum wages hike.

The Labor Defender Alliance (ABM) - which established a special desk with the Surabaya legal Aids Institute (LBH Surabaya) to receive complaints from workers - revealed Saturday that it had received complaints from more than 50,000 workers in industrial areas in the province regarding employer violations of the 2009 provincial minimum wages.

"They *the workers* complained they were paid in accordance with the 2008 provincial minimum wages at the end of January, despite the Governor Decree No. 188/2008 on hikes by an average of 17 percent taking effect Jan. 1, 2009," ABM coordinator Jamaluddin told The Jakarta Post.

He said most employers in Surabaya did not increase their workers' wages and paid them, including those working for more than one year, Rp 905,000 last week, while the government had set Rp 948,000 as new monthly minimum wage in the city.

He said similar violations also occurred in industrial zones in Sidoarjo, Gresik, Pasuruan, Mojokerto and Malang. "But, according to our field survey, many workers have declined to file complaints to ABM's complaint desk for fresh fears of dismissals and layoffs."

Jamaluddin said his side was still coordinating with other workers' unions to go down to streets and pressurize employers to comply with the decree, and to ask authorities to take stern actions against companies infringing the decree.

Workers of footwear box producer PT Sumber Jaya in Tanjungsari, Surabaya, said the management had decided to postpone paying their workers in accordance with the wages hike because they were still waiting for a decision from the court trying the lawsuit filed by the employers' association.

Some 150 workers of a toy producer PT Duta Mainan in Kenjeran, Surabaya, told the Post that only 50 workers employed more than one year were paid according to the 2008 minimum wage, while 100 others were paid around Rp 450,000 for the month.

"We are required to show up on time and to work overtime without any extra pay," said a worker wanting to remain anonymous.

Muhammad Sokib, a father of three children and worker of plywood company PT Indah Gejora in Pasuruan, said all workers, including himself, were paid Rp 905,000 in January and they declined to question it for fears of being dismissed.

The provincial chapter of the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) disseminated a circular in December 2008 and January, 2009, calling for employers to suspend paying their workers in accordance with the new hike in the minimum wages while waiting for a final decision on the Apindo lawsuit.

In December Apindo filed the lawsuit against the decree. Apindo said the provincial government did not consult with employers before issuing the decree. Employers have objected to the decree, they said, because the global economic downturn was impacting the provincial economy.

The provincial government recently allowed 14 of 37 companies filing a request to be exempted from the wage hike decree, to underpay their workers due to their financial difficulties.

Noerana Dibyantarsih, a member of the LBH Surabaya's legal team, said her side had made an inventory of 17 companies that dismissed a total of 5,200 workers over the past two months without any approval from the manpower and transmigration authorities.

She said the legal aid institution would file a complaint to the Judicial Commission if the court decided in Apindo's favor.

"Employers should bear in mind that the gubernatorial decree regulates minimum wages and it is effective only for single workers with less than one year of employment. Authorities should take stern actions against employers underpaying their workers," she said.

Suryono Pane, a unionist from the Confederation of All-Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI) in Pasuruan, said only 60 percent of companies in the industrial zone paid their workers in accordance with the gubernatorial decree.

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