M

ore Indonesian workers will suffer from unfair working environments if the government does not stop businesses from trying to dissolve labor unions, labor activists say.

Maruli Rajagukguk, an activist from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, said on Monday that despite improved labor laws, many workers were being illegally laid off for their involvement in labor unions.

“They have been unfairly and illegally laid off by their employers after they allied themselves with unions to protest poor working conditions at their workplaces,” Maruli said during a two-day rally in front of the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry that ended Tuesday.

The rally involved labor union members from several companies and organizations, including Londre laundry outlet, state-electricity company PT PLN Tbk., Tony Jack’s, Swadeshi Bank and the British International School.

Union busting, which comprises a range of activities undertaken by employers to prevent the formation or expansion of labor unions, is on the increase despite that labor unions are protected by Law No.21/2000.

While they should be protected by the state, more and more workers are being threatened by union busting activities, including sowing discord among union members, attacks on strikes, intimidation and physical abuse.

Maruli said Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar must do more to prevent union busting.

“We need no false promises,” he said, referring to a minister’s statement saying that he would work faster to resolve union busting.

During the first five months of the year, the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute received five separate union busting cases, up from seven cases in all of 2010 and six in 2009. In Greater Jakarta, 49 cases of union busting have been filed since the issuance of the 2000 Law on Labor Unions.

Maruli said workers had tried to encourage the government to talk about how to resolve their problems, but had not received positive responses.

“It seems that the government’s officials are not prepared to do what is right and necessary to resolve problems in industrial relations.”

Many workers have chosen to bypass the government altogether, opting instead to engage in direct negotiations with employers instead.

In the absence of strong protection from the government, more and more workers have been threatened by arbitrariness from their employers, such as intimidation and illegal layoffs.

In 2009, about 500 workers of Tony Jack’s, a fast-food restaurant, were reportedly laid off without severance pay, and about 200 workers of PT Siliwangi were also laid off without compensation.

In a separate case, about 250 employees of PT Micro Garment were laid off after staging a strike to protest poor working conditions at their company.

The ministry has not been seen to crack down on such arbitrary actions.