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More white collar workers join Labor Day
No barriers: Media and creative industry workers hold a rally to commemorate Labor Day in Jakarta on Wednesday
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No barriers: Media and creative industry workers hold a rally to commemorate Labor Day in Jakarta on Wednesday.(JP/Donny Fernando)
More professionals and white-collar workers took to the streets of Jakarta for International Labor Day commemorated on Wednesday to celebrate workers’ rights and joined with thousands who voiced their demands for better benefits and equal treatment.
Some of the workers from various fields had already been in the annual march several times, while others were new to the celebration globally known as May Day.
Workers had gathered since morning to march along the thoroughfares of Jakarta with homemade and colorful posters stating their demands with each group having a special chant.
Some white-collar workers marched through Central Jakarta from the Sarinah shopping mall to the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) building.
Gaia Khairina was among hundreds of white-collar workers participating in the demonstration for the first time. Coming all the way to Jakarta from Bogor, West Java, she spent her day off voicing her aspirations about labor rights for women, hoping that they would meet with proper responses from the government and employers.
Having worked as an analyst at an oil palm and rubber plantation consulting company in Bogor for the past two years, she said the management had fulfilled normative rights for female workers such as salary, menstrual and maternity leaves. Still, the 26-year-old took part in May Day to fight for better rights for female workers as she knew some other workers were not as lucky as she was. “It’s very important to fight for that. Many women also experience job insecurity and low pay compared with their male peers,” she told The Jakarta Post during the protest on Wednesday.
She disapproved of the perception that Labor Day is strongly associated with blue-collar workers only, saying that May Day is observed by all workers.
For Rachma Lutfiny Putri, Wednesday’s rally was her second. Working in administration at an oil-and-gas company in Jakarta, participating in Labor Day was important for her. She is among the outsource workers employed at the company and has been under contract for more than three years.
“I demand job guarantees because I’m still vulnerable at my workplace,” she said.
Hundreds of creative workers and freelancers were also in the rally. One of them was Andreas Eko, who works as a freelance video editor for several film companies in Jakarta.
Andreas claimed that he had experienced unfairness from his clients, particularly related to overtime work hours and safety standards.
Andreas, who is member of Sindikasi — a trade union for media and creative workers — added that safety standards were still not applied for crews shooting scenes of action movies.
Hundreds of journalists with various media organizations also joined May Day and took their protests to the Press Council building, demanding better welfare and protection.
An estimated 40,000 workers from various labor organizations joined in the May Day rally on Wednesday. At least 26,000 security personnel from the police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) were deployed to secure the rally, centered in the Central Jakarta area.
One of the labor groups was the Congress of Indonesia Unions Alliance (KASBI). KASBI chairwoman Nining Elitos said that about 10,000 members participated in the rally.
Meanwhile, thousands of workers marching near the Arjuna Wiwaha statue on Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat expressed disappointment when they were not allowed by security personnel to continue toward the President Palace.
Another smaller disruption involving police broke out on Jl. Sudirman, not far from the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, when a different group of workers were likewise prevented from walking to the Presidential Palace. During that quarrel the fences of a pelican crossing installed for pedestrians were destroyed. Some protesters also reportedly damaged other fences and vandalized the Transjakarta bus-lane separators at the Tosari bus stop in Central Jakarta. (das)
