May Day stems from ancient customs associated with the celebration of spring. It is also a national holiday for workers in many countries around the world.
Celebrating May Day 2011, thousands of workers from Jakarta and its environs staged a rally and marched from Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle to the Presidential Palace near the National Monument (Monas) as well as the manpower ministry office.
Arriving at HI Circle in buses, workers grouped in the Committee for Social Insurance Action (KAJS) carried banners and posters and wore uniforms and jackets of their respective labor unions.
KAJS is made up of 67 labor unions, including the Indonesian Farmers Council, Depok Workers Forum, Bogor Workers Alliance, Banten Workers Alliance and Aspek Indonesia.
In its press statement, KAJS said they would use May Day 2011 as a momentum to urge the government to implement national social insurance.
KAJS Secretary General Said Iqbal stated that the rally is the people`s ultimatum to urge the government to immediately implement the mandate of the 1945 Constitution and Law No. 40 of 2004 on National Social Insurance System by endorsing the bill on Social Insurance Board (BPJS) into law.
In Pasuruan, East Java Province, workers from 16 labor unions along with the deputy district head and other local officials took part in a long march to mark Labor Day.
The workers were entertained by a dangdut music show featuring nine female vocalists to allow workers to convey their aspirations more peacefully.
Chief of the Pasuruan Chapter of the Indonesian Muslim Labor Union Suryono Pane said the commemoration of Labor Day in Pasuruan was different from that of other regions to make it more elegant.
After all, workers still had a chance to convey their aspirations related to local and national problems, he said.
The May Day rally and long march caused severe traffic jams in several main roads in Sidoarjo and Surabaya, East Java Province.
Workers grouped in the Federation of Indonesian Metal Labour Union (FSPMI) marched from Sidoarjo to Surabaya and many of them used tens of buses in the rally.
In West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), around 3,000 workers from The Federation of Indonesian fishermen, farmers and workers` labor union (FS-NTB Indonesia) gathered
in a Mataram square, to celebrate their day.
FS-NTB Indonesia Presidium Chairman M. Taufik Budiman in his speech said workers were driving force for the prosperity of the whole Indonesian people. He criticized companies which have failed to improve the welfare of their workers who have helped the companies grow prosperously.
"Workers are part of the Indonesian nation, therefore, we demand for the improvement of workers` welfare," he stated.
NTB Deputy Governor Badrul Munir who was also present in the rally, said the province`s minimum wage standard of workers is Rp950,000 (around 110 US dollars) per month, and yet not all companies could meet the standard.
In Bandung, West Java Province, workers calls for the revocation of the outsourcing contract system.
"Just revoke the work contract system, do you agree friends," said Daryanto, the Indonesian Trade Union Alliance Congress (KASBI) field coordinator in a street rally in front of the Bandung city council gate on Diponegoro street.
Besides, the revocation of outsourcing, the West Java laborers also raised six other demands in the rally which was also highlighted with a Sundanese arts performance.
"We of May 1 Action Committee refuse layoffs and low wages, stop the trade union crackdown action, manpower supervisors should carry out real work and act assertively, provide working capital and technology of modern agriculture and set commodity basic prices for farmers," Daryanto said.
Over the last few years, laborers in their street rallies on May Day have been requesting for a revocation of the outsourcing contract system.
Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar responded positively to the demand to end the outsourcing contract system and pledged to tighten and restrict the system implementation.
"Outsourcing will be tightened and restricted and may eventually be revoked," said Muhaimin when accompanying President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in a visit to a ceramics firm, PT Keramik Kemenangan Jaya in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday (May 1).
In addition, Muhaimin also urged the police and prosecutors to supervise the suppression of trade unions, while the government was trying to improve the welfare and safety of workers under the employees social security scheme (Jamsostek).
The manpower minister also expressed appreciation to workers for conducting May Day rallies and long marches peacefully and orderly.
"On behalf of the government, we express our appreciation because this year May Day
is observed safely, orderly and peacefully. Hopefully this could become a positive momentum to strengthen cooperation of all stakeholders in order to promote a more conducive manpower climate," the minister said in a press conference in his office, in Jakarta, Sunday.
The minister called on all parties to hold negotiations and dialogs to find solution to problems voiced by workers on Labor Day 2011 commemoration.
"The government will not stay idle to the demands of workers. We must make efforts to meet the workers` demands, in stages and continuously, by amending certain regulations and supervise the implementation," Muhaimin said, citing the outsourcing problem as an example.
Not only laborers, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, students and journalists also observed May Day 2011.
The head of state visited PT Industri Keramik Kemenangan Jaya at Gunng Putri sub-district, Bogor, and PT Tirta Investama at Ciluengsi sub-district, West Java Province.
Over the past five years, the head of state has always visited factories during the commemoration of Labor Day on May 1.
The President said only by visiting both domestic and foreign investment companies in the country could he know the status of workers` welfare.
In addition, Yudhoyono said he also wanted to see if employers and employees had close relations.
"If they have good relations, God willing, the companies will grow. If the companies grow they will be able to improve their workers` living standard," he said.
The head of state expressed hope that all companies in the country would make constant efforts to improve their performance which would eventually promote their workers` living standard.
In Purwokerto, Central Java, students grouped in the People`s Struggle Front (FPR) in their May Day rally asked the Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Boediono administration to meet its pledge made at the Bung Karno Stadium on July 4, 2009.
"The Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Boediono administration`s pledge to create more jobs, increase economic growth, evenly distribute access to education, improve the people`s welfare, and build a clean government is far from reality," the rally`s coordinator, Widianto, said.
Using the momentum of Labor Day, the students have called for a wage increase for workers according to fair standards of living, elimination of labor outsourcing system, and protection of migrant workers. (*)
Reporter: Fardah
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
