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Labor unions criticize ‘cosmetic changes’ in wage components

Labor unions have protested at what they call “cosmetic changes” to a ministerial decree on decent living standards, as the minor revisions will not lead to higher wages

Ridwan Max Sijabat (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Thu, May 31, 2012

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Labor unions criticize ‘cosmetic changes’ in wage components

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abor unions have protested at what they call “cosmetic changes” to a ministerial decree on decent living standards, as the minor revisions will not lead to higher wages.

The revision of the ministerial decree initiated by the National Wages Council was supposed to improve workers’ living standards.

In fact, according to the unions, the changes are minor and irrelevant to workers’ real conditions.

Irianto Simbolon, director general for industrial relations and social security affairs at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, said the council had added components in Ministerial Decree No. 17/2005, the guideline for determining wages nationwide.

The decree sets out the monthly needs for a single worker to attain a reasonable standard of living. Among these are staple foods, clothes, decent rental accommodation and health and dental care.

In total, there are 46 components set out in detail in the ministerial decree. All of them are used by regional administrations to set minimum wages.

Irianto told The Jakarta Post on Monday that the National Wages Council had added new components to the ministerial decree including specific items of clothing and furniture, as well as raising the calorific content and quality of food as well as power needs.

Mudhofir, chairman of the Confederation of Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (KSBSI), said the decree revisions would bring no significant improvements to workers’ social welfare and were far below the standards proposed by labor unions and the ILO.

According to the KSBSI, a single worker at present needed at least 16 kilograms of rice, five kilograms of meat, eight kilograms of fresh fish, five kilograms of fresh fruit, three kilograms of vegetable oil and six cubic meters of drinking water each month.

Secretary General of the Indonesian Workers Organization (OPSI) Timboel Siregar said the cosmetic changes in the wage components would maintain the cheap labor policy and poor labor conditions.

“The changes made to the wage components are unrealistic and the government and employers have failed to identify workers’ real needs. If the government and employers are serious about improving workers’ social welfare, they should drastically raise the minimum quality, quantity and variety of food and drinks, change the rented house assumption to house ownership, include transportation costs and the need for communications like cellular phones and Internet,” he said, adding that the government should raise the calorie intake to around 5,000 from the current 3,000 per day.

He warned that the decree’s review would provoke labor unions and workers to stage antigovernment demonstrations and would deepen popular distrust of the government.

Separately, Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said he had asked the wages council to apply the new components in several regencies and municipalities to ascertain the increase in minimum wages if they were implemented.

“We will compare the current system and the new one and compute the percentage wage increase,” he said, adding that the newly revised components would be used to set the minimum wages in 2013.

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