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Omnibus bill to help create jobs for less productive labor
Ditching the omnibus bill will not help our workers, who face the growing threat of business relocation. It will only leave millions of our unemployed compatriots out in the cold.
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World of work: Hundreds of applicants head for a walk-in interview for a bank at the Smesco Building in Jakarta in November 2019. Much of the controversy around the omnibus bill focuses on fears of existing workers, while others hope the new law will create new jobs. (JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
N
icholas Kristof, a renowned human rights advocate and New York Times columnist, raised eyebrows years ago with an article defending sweatshops in Cambodia. How could a human rights defender do such a thing?
In the piece, Kristof shared the stories of people working as scavengers at a Phnom Penh garbage dump. One of them, earning less than US$1 a day, told him that “its dirty, hot and smelly here, a factory is better”. For some of us, working in a factory is probably a nightmare, but for millions who scrape a living without formal jobs, it’s the dream.
This is something we lose sight of in our heated discourse over the job creation omnibus bill. Currently, there are around 7 million unemployed people in Indonesia. We should, of course, try to improve the wellbeing of existing workers, but we cannot just sweep millions of our jobless people under the rug. That is what the omnibus bill is about, to help create jobs for the jobless.
First, we need to put the bill in perspective. The bill has been criticized for its provisions on labor issues, but they constitute only a fraction of the entire bill. The bill encompasses the overhaul of 1,244 articles in 79 laws, fewer than 100 of which are in the 2003 Labor Law.
The overwhelming majority of amendments in the bill are aimed at streamlining regulations and investment licensing that have jeopardized Indonesia’s business climate for way too long. This reform enjoys popular support. Despite criticism on its labor clauses, more than 60 percent of Indonesians supported the omnibus bill in a survey last month. While we should not overlook a certain cluster in the bill, we cannot assess the bill exclusively on its labor rules.
Now let’s get to the heart of the contention: Is the bill anti-labor? Contrary to what some argue, the bill does offer some benefits for workers, including upfront bonus for current workers. More importantly, the bill also provides an unemployment benefits scheme for workers who lose their jobs, including cash assistance and job training.
Having said that, the detractors do have some legitimate concerns about changes in the bill regarding outsourcing, layoffs, working hours and remunerations that seek to make the labor market more flexible. Indeed, these changes would be ill-advised if we live in an ideal world where all countries uphold the same basic labor standards.
