Some media companies even pay their workers a basic salary of only Rp 1 million per month. The workers include journalists, photographers, layout artists, marketing personnel, office boys and security officers.

“Many media owners and administrators in Semarang city and Central Java do not adhere to the 2003 Manpower Law,” said Abdul Mughis of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) on Tuesday.

He added that the salaries were far below this year’s basic cost of living (KHL) in Semarang that stood at Rp 2.7 million per month, according to a survey commissioned by the Confederation of Indonesian Worker Unions (KSPI).

“Half of the media companies don’t even provide their workers with health and worker insurance schemes managed by the Health Care and Social Security Agency [BPJS] and state-owned social security company [Jamsostek] respectively, as well as retirement or pension insurance,” said Abdul who also serves as the chairman of the Cross Media Workers Union (SPLM) in Central Java.

“Owners and administrators of print, electronic and online media outlets must pay decent wages based on the KHL and the province’s minimum wage standard to their workers because they are professionals,” he added.

“A media worker should ideally receive a monthly salary of Rp 3 million. This amounts to workers having decent living standards,” KSPI Semarang head Heru Budi Utoyo said. (ebf)

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