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Comments on other issues: Workers flood Jakarta to protest layoffs
Labor strike: Thousands of members of the Indonesian Metal Workers Federation (FSPMI) hold a rally before the State Palace in Central Jakarta on Saturday, demanding the government stop the ongoing massive layoffs at a number of labor-intensive factories in the country
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Labor strike: Thousands of members of the Indonesian Metal Workers Federation (FSPMI) hold a rally before the State Palace in Central Jakarta on Saturday, demanding the government stop the ongoing massive layoffs at a number of labor-intensive factories in the country.(JP/DON) (FSPMI) hold a rally before the State Palace in Central Jakarta on Saturday, demanding the government stop the ongoing massive layoffs at a number of labor-intensive factories in the country.(JP/DON)
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span class="inline inline-center">Labor strike: Thousands of members of the Indonesian Metal Workers Federation (FSPMI) hold a rally before the State Palace in Central Jakarta on Saturday, demanding the government stop the ongoing massive layoffs at a number of labor-intensive factories in the country.(JP/DON)
Feb. 6, 2016
Thousands of Indonesian labor union members flooded into Jakarta for a massive rally on Saturday, urging the government to stop layoffs at multinational corporations.
Simultaneous rallies were held in Jakarta, Bogor, Batam, Bekasi, Depok, Medan, Surabaya, Semarang and Tangerang. In total, 30,000 workers joined in the action, said Said Iqbal, the chairman of the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPI).
Your comments:
Are the owners of the factories and business, as well as the maids, still getting paid below the expected minimum wage that the Indonesian government set up? Some of the maids in my ex-wife's house never made more than US$50 per month. But the minimum wage for Jakarta is either $100 or $300, isn't it?
Thomas7919
Being the labor force in our own country is terrifying and horrible for Indonesian people. When will we become bosses in our own country and hire other people from all over the world?
Sachrul Nopian
Last year there were only 53,000 foreigners in Indonesia. But it feels as if they do all the work for us.
Foreign companies calculate that for one expat, five to 10 locals are needed to do the same job. So let's kick out those 53,000 foreigners and create 265,000 roles for local ''talent''. See how long that lasts.
Betawi Spring
Increased pay with no improvement in productivity. Strikes become more militant by the day. How do you not expect multinational corporations (MNCs) to relocate to other countries (e.g. Vietnam)?
Well, protest all you want, the MNCs are gone.
Powerful unions with members unemployed, with nothing to feed their families. What a joke!
WNI333
These people really need to enter the entrepreneurship world. The government should spend more to educate and train its unskilled population to be entrepreneurs.
Jalasveva
Vice President Jusuf Kalla pledged to boost economic growth to magically provide new jobs in 2016 for laid-off workers! 'We will try to keep the economy running', he said. One feels truly sorry for Indonesians who deserve a job to support themselves and their families but Indonesia's government and its militant unions and workers need to understand their country is only one player in a global marketplace and multinationals often change production locations as world economics ebbs and flows.
BL
So, maybe, the companies involved should move out of Indonesia.
The government has no power to stop any multinational corporation lay off workers. For some bizarre reason, Indonesians think that they have a right to these things, that they are owed them. It's wrong.
Charles Jarret
