I think this is for the sake and on behalf of humanity to offer them an opportunity to work from home.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Manpower Minister Ida Fauziyah has urged companies to allow workers with comorbidities, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers to work from home (WFH).

“I think this is for the sake and on behalf of humanity to offer them an opportunity to work from home,” Fauziyah remarked in a press statement released here on Saturday.

She also asked workers using public transportation to wear double masks so they can be better protected against new variants of COVID-19, such as Delta.

She then asked employers to consult with the Industry Regional Administration or the local COVID-19 Handling Task Force to clarify their business status as essential, non-essential, or critical without delay.

“This is in order that COVID-19 prevention and handling (efforts) at the companies are aligned with the existing regulations, in particular during the emergency public activity restrictions (PPKM),” Fauziyah explained.

She said she has asked companies in Java and Bali to conduct regular COVID-19 tests for workers using the sampling method as part of efforts to stem COVID-19 transmission during the emergency PPKM enforcement.

If the positivity rate reaches 10 percent, work operations should be stopped, she advised. Meanwhile, if the positivity rate is above 5 percent, companies should tighten health protocols, she added.

“If the positivity rate is below five percent, even though it is deemed as normal, the companies should be vigilant and implement health protocols strictly,” she continued.

Meanwhile, system and strategy deputy at the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Raditya Jati, observed that most institutions are not fully complying with health protocols, which prescribe wearing masks, washing hands, and avoiding crowds, and implementing the work from office (WFO) and work from home (WFH) guidance as regulated.

“So, we need manpower sector’s support to always remind all business players, manpower regional administration, to keep on following the health protocols,” Jati remarked.

Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), Arsjad Rasjid, assured his full support to all government programs for tackling COVID-19, adding that the current focus on health handling is very important.

He also requested the government to maintain the operational license of labor-intensive industries.

Even though the economy is slowing, it is better than not growing at all, he remarked. The labor-intensive industry must observe health protocols stringently while operating, he added.

Manpower head at Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), Harijanto, concurred with the Kadin chairman and said the government should continue to allow labor-intensive industries to operate and cited two reasons for the request.

First, Apindo will not question the 50-percent reduction in production staff or factory and 10 percent reduction in office staff or office administration services stipulated by the Home Affairs Minister’s Instruction No.18 of 2021, he said.

The statement is aimed at preventing confusion, which might occur among factory employers, due to the emerging interpretation pertaining to the instruction that the 50-percent cap refers to production and not production staff, he emphasized.

“If the production should be reduced by 50 percent, if it should be so, it will not work at all. All factories can go out of business if garment industry, shoe industry, which are labour-intensive industries, stop operating. So, it is impossible if their production should be cut by 50 percent and the government knows it,” he noted.

Second, as labor-intensive exports have been allowed since the beginning, the export industry has committed to deliveries to foreign buyers overseas where the condition has return to normalcy, such as the United States, China, and European countries, he pointed out.

“So, the delivery must go on,” he remarked. (INE)
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Translator: Indriani, Juwita Trisna R
Editor: Suharto
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