Workers vs Apindo isn’t over yet, warns lawmaker

The House of Representatives' worker commission lawmaker, Rieke Dyah Pitaloka, has warned workers to remain alert, despite the fact that the results of the meeting between them and the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) were in their favor.

“We still have a one-week interim period before the implementation of the meeting's results. Anything can happen in that time. Thus, I hope my fellow factory workers will remain alert,” Rieke told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The statement was made as a response to the recent meeting between Apindo and workers' representatives, which was facilitated by the government. The meeting was organized in recognition of the workers’ protests toward Apindo’s move of filing a lawsuit with the Banten State Administrative Court to overturn an official statement by the governor to increase minimum wages for workers in Tangerang, Banten.

“Bringing the lawsuit was already a mistake. The administrative court's authority is in trying individual disputes, such as cases of staff firings; while here, we have the fate of thousands of workers on the line, which means this case was beyond the court's authority,” she reasoned.