O

nce again the voice of the many outdid the few, regardless how diligent the latter may have been.

Business lobby group, the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), tasted another round of defeat on Wednesday as it agreed to withdraw its legal complaint against a revision to the minimum wage increase in Tangerang, Banten.

A six-hour meeting with labor union representatives, moderated by Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar and Banten Governor Ratu Atut Chosiyah, left Apindo with no choice but to surrender, as the labor force threatened to stage a massive rally to block traffic connecting Jakarta with Merak port and the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

The threat attempted to mimic the Bekasi labor workforce in West Java, which on Friday succeeded in forcing Apindo to bow to their salary increase demands after blockading toll roads.

An insider who followed the closed meeting revealed to The Jakarta Post that the biggest blow to Apindo was an admission from the Jakarta Police that it would not be able to protect factories in Tangerang should the labor protest turn chaotic.

The dispute between the employers and their workers stemmed from Banten’s decision to revise the 2012 minimum wage for Tangerang and South Tangerang regencies following a labor uprising. Previously, the province set Rp 1,379,000 as the minimum wage for general workers in 2012, which was a 10.4 percent increase on 2011. The standard was later increased to Rp 1,529,000 following the uprising.

Indonesia was ranked 94 out of 142 nations surveyed on labor market efficiency.

Apindo filed a lawsuit against the ruling, arguing that the provincial administration had abused its power by disregarding 2012 wage proposals submitted by the National Wage Council (DPN)

Although the six-hour meeting ended with Apindo agreeing to withdraw the lawsuit, it failed to satisfy most of the labor unions after they refused to acknowledge an agreement clause allowing companies facing financial constraints to receive dispensation from the Banten administration to postpone the implementation of the regulation.

“Such leniency will make more companies reluctant to implement the regulation, even though they can afford the raise,” Imam Sukarsa, the chairman of the Confederation of Indonesian Workers’ Unions’ (KSPSI) Tangerang regency chapter told the Post.

After the meeting, Imam said the alliance would continue its plan to strike next week to protest the “half-hearted willingness to improve labor welfare” on the part of employers’ and the government.

“On Feb. 9, we will close toll roads connecting Jakarta with Merak port and Soekarno-Hatta International Airport,” he said.

On the heels of a series of recent strikes by tens of thousands of workers, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told employers to increase labor wages to correspond with the country’s stable economic growth.

“Morally, labor wages should be appropriate to meet the sense of justice,” Yudhoyono told journalists during an impromptu press conference on Wednesday.

“If our economy and business world continues to grow, then labor wages should go up in line with that growth,” he said.

Yudhoyono also said that all local administrations at regency and city level should take a share of responsibility in handling disputes concerning minimum wages.

“The tri-partite regional wage council [in each region], which consists of representatives from the local administrations, businesspeople and labor unions, must be able to address the issue properly. The council knows the life costs in the regions, thus they should know how much the minimum wage in each region should be,” Yudhoyono said.

“Don’t let disputes become ridden with other interests. I hope this matter is free from any kind of political influence.”