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ctivists have urged the government to provide greater protection to millions of informal laborers, especially those working in home industries, because of their significant contribution to the economy during the global crisis.

Ratno Cahyadi, chairwoman of the Partner of Female Workers in Home Industries' (MWPRI) research and legal division, said the government had not yet admitted that home industry workers were part of workforce that should be protected under the National Labor Law.

"The government seems to ignore their existence. Although there is much stimulus funding allocated to the informal sector, it never reaches this kind of worker," Ratno told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

She added the government only recognized those who worked independently in the informal sector.

"So those who work for employers in the informal sector are not recognized in the manpower law."

Ratno said Manpower and Transmigration Minister Erman Suparno had guaranteed that Manpower Law No. 13/2003 would protect formal and informal workers, but the ministry has so far only recognized those who doing informal jobs, instead of workers in the informal sector.

"The uncertainty in the definition of informal workers had entrapped millions of people in *modern slavery'. Workers in the informal sector do not have a standard minimum wage, work safety rules or health benefits. Unpaid workers and child labor exploitation are also rampant in the sector," she said.

She added that employers could also arbitrarily dismiss workers and recruit new ones without government intervention.

"In the production process, they work like other labors in the formal sector, but they don't have the same rights as formal-sector workers," she said.

A 2007 national manpower survey by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) showed 62,090,967 people (62 percent of the country's workforce) were employed in the informal sector, while 37,839,250 people (38 percent) worked in the formal sector.

"Half of those in the informal sector are people who work for employers with wage, safety and health standards below the minimum. Most of the workers are women," Ratno said.

To protect workers in the sector, MWPRI secretary-general Cecilia Susiloretno urged the government to ratify the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention No. 177/1996 on Home Work.

"The government should also revise its definition of workers in informal sector. With the ratification and redefinition of informal workers, the workers can be guaranteed their rights like other workers," Cecilia said.

Rendra Kusuma, East Java chairman of the All Indonesian Workers' Association, supported the MWPRI's suggestion that Indonesia ratify the ILO convention soon.

"We have also urged the government to ratify the convention," said Rendra who is also Malang deputy regent.