T

he massive May Day rallies in Jakarta and other major cities this week revealed the growing strength of Indonesia's labor organizations. That they were able to create so much havoc and disruption and then win a major concession from the government means that the labor movement has come of age, at least politically.

One person who paid heed to the growing union power is President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. In a speech to mark International Workers Day, he conceded to a long standing labor demand by declaring May 1 a public holiday, starting in 2014.

No other constituents, not even farmers, who count far larger in number, have a public holiday dedicated to them. One could almost be tempted to liken labor to a religion because, with the exception of the Aug. 17 Independence Day, all 12 other annual public holidays are tied to religion.

More than a symbolic victory, the concession attests to the political clout that labor, repressed for three decades under President Soeharto's rule possesses. While the unions say they have a long way to go in their struggle to improve the welfare of workers, they have come a long way in the last 15 years.

Then, the government deployed the military to tame union members who were showing 'communist traits'.

The labor movement has been one of the chief beneficiaries of the post-Soeharto political reforms. With freedom to organize fully guaranteed by the constitution, the number of unions has exploded. Unions are no longer required to be affiliated any confederations. Some decide to remain independent, including those that are organized on the shop floor in companies and factories.

The presence of so many unions frustrates employers as they often have to deal with more than one, sometimes dozens in negotiating collective agreements. It takes only one union to break any deal, which happens often.

The Association of Indonesian Employers (Apindo) has demanded that the government register all unions to determine which are legitimate, and which are not. Unions have rejected the proposal, citing their constitutional right to form organizations.

They have prevailed, as they have in many earlier battles with employers.

The labor movement has thwarted Yudhoyono's attempt to amend the 2003 Labor Law, a source of contention for business because it makes hiring and firing inflexible. Foreign investors cite tough labor law as a major impediment. Amending the law is one of the few of Yudhoyono's 2004 electoral promises that he has yet to fulfill, and is unlikely do so by the time he ends his term in October 2014.

Workers won a big concession with the establishment of a new national agency to manage social security, paving the way for the implementation of the 2004 law on social security in 2014. Employers and the government had hoped that this gesture would soften the unions' opposition to amending the labor law. No such luck.

In yet another show of force, the labor movement last year forced the government to ban labor outsourcing, which employers had used quite effectively in circumventing the inflexible labor law.

There is also growing militancy, although this is not an exclusive trait of labor. With a democratic government needing to respond to people's aspirations, many groups, from students, teachers and Islamists to workers have learned the effectiveness of mass mobilization, sometimes involving violence, in winning their political battles.

Last year saw the beginning of 'sweeping' practices reminiscent of the early days of the European industrial revolution. Activists visit factories, sometimes using force, to demand all workers join their protests.

Many factories were forced to shut down on May 1 when their workers were intimidated to join the rallies. Police chose not to interfere, in spite of requests from employers, for fear of being accused of union bashing.

Early attempts by some labor organizations to turn into political parties and contest elections proved unpopular among voters. But now they have found that with their rights and power protected by the laws of the land, unions collectively can become an effective interest group without becoming a political party.

However, they have many challenges to overcome before they can become a truly effective force.

For one there are just too many unions with different priorities that do not always speak with one voice. Outside the annual May Day rallies, the unions have different agendas and priorities and organizing a protest on a national scale is often difficult.

Second, the unions cannot claim to represent all of the 125 million-strong workforce. The interests of those working in the informal sector, more than half of the total, have certainly been excluded. They include domestic workers, who are not regulated by law and therefore do not enjoy legal protection. Unionization only represents 3.4 million out of the 35 million workers in the formal sector.

But power entails responsibility and with their newfound clout, unions will soon learn that they will be constantly in the media spotlight and held accountable for their actions.

Heading into an election year in 2014, the labor movement with its growing strength and influence has become a powerful voting block. Some of the big confederations are already aligning themselves with big political parties.

In some way, labor is only catching up in a political game that their chief adversaries, employers and businesses represented by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) and Apindo, have long played, and quite effectively.

Very soon, if not already, labor is going to be one of Indonesia's main centers of political power and will color the nation's democracy.