T

he government needs to define the core businesses of companies in order to regulate the kinds of jobs for which workers can be outsourced, labor unions say.

Odie Hudiyanto from Labour Working Group, an NGO focusing on laborers' education, said Friday it was high time the government put an end to Indonesia's outsourcing chaos through better management.

"The outsourcing system could turn catastrophic for companies."

He argued July 17's bombings of the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels could have been prevented if the hotels had not outsourced staff.

An outsourced florist at the Ritz-Carlton named Ibrohim was suspected to have smuggled explosive materials into the Marriott.

"Outsourced workers have less emotional commitment to the companies, making them suitable candidates for terror activities," Odie told The Jakarta Post after a meeting with high level officials at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry.

"The government should see this tragedy as a wake up call, to remind us of the danger of outsourcing."

The unions submitted their proposal to define the core businesses of companies to the ministry's director general for industrial relations and social security, Myra Maria Hanartani, who promised to pass it on to Minister Erman Suparno.

Defining the core businesses, Odie said, would help curb rampant outsourcing practices, which had been misused to reduce labor costs.

The ministry's data shows that the country is home to more than 200 outsourcing companies.

The 2003 Manpower Law stipulates that companies cannot outsource staff for their core businesses.

However, Odie said, no one had ever defined the core businesses specifically for each company.

"This has allowed companies to outsource as many staff as they like."

Labor unions have been fighting to eradicate or at least curb the practice of outsourcing in the country.

An effort was made back in 2004 to contest the Manpower Law that legalizes outsourcing, but the judicial review request was dismissed by the Constitutional Court.

"That's why we have now come up with a new approach. If the law is not to be nullified then the government must provide a better explanation as to how it should be implemented," Odie said.

He added outsourced staff were mostly underpaid and without allowances or separation pay.

"We urge the government to raise their wages. Outsourced workers must be paid more than permanent employees with less than a year's working period," he said, adding that higher wages are to compensate for the worker's uncertain future.