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Desperate workers to hold mass rallies against job creation bill despite pandemic
Desperation and a sense of betrayal have fueled workers’ anger about the insistent, continued deliberation of the omnibus bill on job creation. Now they may be bold enough to risk catching COVID-19 as they plan to stage massive rallies in front of executive and legislative offices nationwide on April 30.
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We'll be back: Laborers from the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) protest against the controversial Omnibus bill on job creation in front of the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Feb. 12. Labor unions plan to return to the streets to protest the bill on April 30, despite the risk of contracting COVID-19. (JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
D
arsih, a 41-year-old single mother of two, spent more than a year fighting for her right to severance pay after she was laid off in October 2018. At the time, she was working for a South Korean garment factory operating in North Jakarta. She was one of hundreds of workers who were laid off for the sake of cost efficiency.
Even after months of battling it out through legal channels with the help of the Inter-Factory Laborers Federation (FBLP), Darsih still lost her appeal.
But her focus held steady on the struggle. She was well aware of what little chance factory workers had to win a battle for rights against corporations.
The fact that the government has moved in favor of investment has made the fight that much harder.
Read also: Key points of labor reform in omnibus bill on job creation
“Winning is just a reward,” Darsih said. “I have learned a lot about the labor movement, including the hard work and commitment needed to fight for my right as a worker,” she told The Jakarta Post last weekend.
Now with the COVID-19 outbreak looming over her struggle, Darsih said the sense of community she gained from joining the FBLP had been crucial for her survival, since there were few opportunities for someone like her to get a formal education.
Darsih is one of 40 FBLP members whose source of income evaporated as a result of the pandemic, joining more than a million others nationwide. Weeks ago, she was still able to run her mobile café, serving coffee and tea to workers at public facilities and malls around North Jakarta on her motorcycle. Now, she can no longer do that because of the large-scale social restrictions (PSBB) imposed by the government in an effort to contain the spread of COVID-19.
She and other union members who lost their jobs have set up a small home industry to produce fabric face masks in order to survive, as they have had little luck with social aid programs.
FBLP is not alone in the struggle to support dismissed workers and their families on a daily basis. Other labor unions, including an alliance of the country’s three biggest groups, who all supported President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo – the Workers Union Confederation (KSPI), the All-Indonesia Workers Union Confederation (KSPSI) and the Indonesia Welfare Labor Confederation (KSBSI) – face the same problems.
Desperation has fueled anger about the government’s insistence on continuing to deliberate the omnibus bill on job creation at a time when people have been told to stay at home.
Now workers may be bold enough to risk catching COVID-19. They plan to stage massive rallies in front of executive and legislative offices nationwide on April 30.
“The option is either to die from the coronavirus for joining a rally or die of starvation for having nothing to eat,” FBLP chairwoman Jumisih said on Monday.
Read also: Workers blast lawmakers with messages opposing omnibus bill on job creation
Rallies at the House complex were initially planned by the big-three unions at the end of March, but the police urged them to postpone and obey the state-led stay-at-home order.
They were also briefly persuaded that progress on the bill would be delayed after several political leaders, including House speaker Puan Maharani of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), questioned the need to rush the process.
Much to their surprise, lawmakers moved to proceed with the bill’s deliberation, a decision announced by House Deputy Speaker Azis Syamsuddin, a Golkar Party lawmaker, during a House plenary session earlier this month. Azis claims the President himself gave the green light for the discussions.
“We urge lawmakers to stop the deliberation [process]. President Jokowi must immediately retract the bill from the House,” said KSPSI chairman Andi Ghani Nuwa Wea. “Our members nationwide are getting ready to rally, and I can assure you that they are prepared to die.”
Read also: PDI-P, NasDem call to remove labor provisions from omnibus jobs bill
The insistence of politicians from the ruling coalition on continuing the talks in private has raised concerns about the motivation behind the omnibus bill.
Lawmakers and officials have argued that the bill is required to boost investment, but labor unions consider that the hasty political horse trade occurring behind the curtain of physical distancing serves a single purpose: to provide companies a way out of honoring their responsibilities to their workers.
The leaders of several progressive labor unions, including FBLP, KSPSI and the Congress Alliance of Indonesian Labor Unions (KASBI) said that both officials and lawmakers were using the COVID-19 crisis to “legitimize the exploitation of workers”.
“While we are hard at work pushing firms to hand over severance pay to workers already laid off, the government and lawmakers are working fast to pass a bill that allows them to easily lay off even more people,” said KASBI chair Nining Elitos.
According to Manpower Ministry data, more than a million workers have been laid off or furloughed since the COVID-19 outbreak took hold in the country. An estimated 5.2 million more workers could still lose their jobs.
Read also: Millions to lose jobs, fall into poverty as Indonesia braces for recession
The bill has been criticized for its pro-business bent, which would make it harder for laborers to negotiate on equal footing.
“It promotes the spirit of individualism by restricting the role of unions in negotiations. It involves pitting [individual] workers against entire companies, so how can you expect a fair fight?” Jumisih said.
Responding to mounting protests, leaders of the House Legislation Body (Baleg) tasked with negotiating the bill have pledged to remain transparent and accountable, with promises to broadcast all the meetings publicly on the legislature’s television channel and its social media accounts.
“We also promise to invite the unions to participate in the meetings, whether virtually or face-to-face,” said Baleg chairman Supratman Andi Atgas of the Gerindra Party.
However, backroom talks remain unsupervised.
Read also: Backroom bargain: House holds closed meeting on job creation bill
Baleg kicked off the bill’s virtual deliberation process on April 7, having made only the last few minutes of the meeting accessible to the public.
Another meeting on April 14 was broadcast for the first 30 minutes before it was switched with a parallel program led by Golkar’s Azis detailing solutions that firms have come up with.
