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Jakarta Post

City receives labor, environment awards

The city administration received on Thursday two ministerial awards on labor and the environment, despite struggling to deal with the minimum wage dispute and worsening air pollution

Sita W. Dewi (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Sat, December 7, 2013

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City receives labor, environment awards

T

he city administration received on Thursday two ministerial awards on labor and the environment, despite struggling to deal with the minimum wage dispute and worsening air pollution.

On Thursday morning, Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo received acknowledgement as Jakarta was dubbed the province with the highest labor-building index, followed by Riau Islands and Central Kalimantan.

The acknowledgement was given to provinces that had strengthened the manpower sector, which included improving workers'€™ welfare through policies and regulations through 2013.

Meanwhile, West Kalimantan, Maluku, West Nusa Tenggara and Lampung were provinces with the lowest labor-building indexes.

'€œWe expect city administrations will strengthen their commitments to empowering workers in the country,'€ Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said at the Manpower and Transmigration Expo in Jakarta.

Jokowi said his administration would encourage businesspeople to provide training to their employees to improve their skills. '€œWe, the city administration, will also provide training to our employees,'€ he said.

Commenting on the wage issue, Jokowi said he would not push all companies to comply with the minimum wage set by the city administration.

Jokowi set the 2014 minimum wage at Rp 2.44 million (US$203.97) in November from Rp 2.2 million last year, prompting protests by worker'€™ unions, who demanded the wage be set between Rp 2.9 million and Rp 3.7 million.

'€œIf they won'€™t comply with the minimum wage set by the city administration, they can relocate their factories to other regions that suit their standards,'€ he said, adding that he aimed to attract upscale industries to the capital.

Also on the same day, the Environment Ministry announced the result of its air quality evaluation, naming 15 cities, as well as West Jakarta and Central Jakarta, as cities with tolerable air quality.

The cities comprised Bandung (West Java), Surabaya (East Java), Tangerang (Banten), Bandarlampung (Lampung), Malang (East Java), Manado (North Sulawesi), Padang (West Sumatra), Pontianak (West Kalimantan), Ambon (Maluku), Banda Aceh (Aceh), Palangkaraya (Central Kalimantan), Palu (Central Sulawesi) and Serang (Banten).

'€œThe 15 cities have good air quality as air pollution has not exceeded tolerable limits,'€ Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya said as quoted by Antara news agency.

The ministry measured the level of carbon monoxide, hydrocarbon, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide and PM10 (particulate) in cities across the archipelago, from March to October this year.

According to the ministry, air pollution caused Rp 38.5 trillion in losses each year, most of which was used to cover medical costs.

Even though air quality in some regions in the country was below the central government'€™s parameters, several non-governmental organizations cited that pollution in the city exceeded the tolerable limits or standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

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