Workers meet with Ahok on higher wages
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Jakarta | Wed, October 24 2012, 5:13 PM
Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama (right, in uniform) talks to demonstrators outside the City Hall on Wednesday. The protestors demanded an increase in the regional minimum wage and the elimination of outsourcing. (Antara/Zabur Karuru)
Hundreds of workers staged a demonstration in front of the Jakarta City Hall on Wednesday, demanding that Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to raise the minimum regional wage and eliminate outsourcing.
Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama spoke with protesters and invited several into his office.
The city administration has promised to examine increasing workers’ living standards and the minimum wage, Ahok said as quoted by tribunnews.com
Currently, the capital’s minimum wage has been set at Rp 1,529,000, which workers want increased to Rp 2,799,000.
“With the city’s development and economic capacity, the regional minimum wage could reach Rp 6 million (US$624),” Ahok said.
The demonstrators demanded that the city administration eliminate outsourcing, which they said only benefitted employers.
“If the administration ignores our demands, we will stage a massive strike in several places, including at Kawasan Berikat Nusantara [in Cilincing, North Jakarta] and Pulogadung [in East Jakarta],” Said Iqbal, chairman of the Indonesian Workers Union (KSPI), said. (lfr)
