T

o mark May Day on Wednesday (today), labor unions are expected to hold a national strike in the capital and in the nation'€™s major industrial areas.

Representatives from the unions said that the national strike would be to demand the end of the cheap-labor policy, outsourcing and union busting and for the implementation of social security schemes.

Chairman of the Confederation of Indonesian Worker'€™s Union (KSPI) Said Iqbal said unions intended the strike to be a message to the government and employers.

Unions joining the strike include the KSPI and the Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers (FSPMI), which have organized labor rallies in Jakarta, West Java, Banten, Riau Islands, North Sumatra and East Java over the past two years.

Other workers joining the strike will represent the Indonesian Workers'€™ Union Council (MPBI).

The unions said that their principal demand would be for the government to improve their living standards.

'€œThe government and employers have to accept the unions'€™ proposed 84 wage components for fair and decent pay,'€ Iqbal said.

Iqbal also said the unions also demanded the government drop plans to raise the subsidized fuel price, focus more on labor standards in the outsourcing system, the rehiring of union leaders dismissed for union activities and to implement the national healthcare scheme simultaneously nationwide.

The unions said the government'€™s plan to raise subsidized fuel prices for private cars to Rp 6,500 (67 US cents) per liter from the current Rp 4,500 per liter would translate into higher basic commodity prices, transportation costs and rent.

The unions have also proposed the addition of 24 new wage components to the current 60, saying that despite the significant increase in minimum wages in the past two years, monthly wages remained at 89 percent of the standard set by the 2003 Labor Law.

Workers have also stood against the government'€™s plan to implement the national healthcare scheme gradually which they say violates the 2004 Social Security System Law and the 2011 Social Security Provider Law.

Iqbal said the labor union confederations would no longer rely on the tripartite forum, the wage committee and social dialogue in settling crucial labor problems, which he deemed '€œineffective'€.

He said the three-party forum lacked the commitment to improve workers'€™ welfare.

Fifteen union leaders represent workers on the 45-member National Tripartite Forum and 10 on the National Wage Committee.

The government however has put the blame for the breakdown of the talks on unions.

Director general for industrial relations and social security affairs at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry Irianto Simbolon said that some labor unions had turned themselves into '€œextreme'€ organizations, often resorting to intimidation and violence.

Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said the National Police had been told to get tough on violent protests and strikes.

Muhaimin said however that resorting to police action would be the last resort as controlling unions in the way practiced by the New Order regime was no longer acceptable.

In its latest congress, the Indonesian Employers'€™ Association (Apindo) called on the government to better monitor the activities of the labor unions.

Union leader Andi Gani Nuwawea said monitoring labor union activities by the government would not end conflict between employers and workers.

'€œIf employers want to minimize industrial strikes and disputes, they should join negotiations with the government and workers to come up with a fair-pay system,'€ said Andi, leader of the Confederation of All-Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI).

Andi, who is the son of former manpower minister Jacob Nuwawea, also said there was no intention of unions merging.

The KSPSI, is affiliated with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), while the KSPI is said to be close to the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS). Iqbal is a member of the latter, Islamist, party.

Data from the ministry shows that only 3.4 million of 35 million workers in the formal sector and state-owned enterprises are unionized, mostly with the KSPSI, KSPI and the Confederation of Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (KSBSI).