"I hope the celebrations will be held in a conducive situation like that in previous years."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government hopes that the rallies which are to be held by about 170,000 workers throughout the country to observe International May Day on Tuesday will be conducted in a peace and orderly manner without any lawless or anarchic acts.

"In principle, the government hails and supports the observance of the international workers` solidarity day (May Day). I hope the celebrations will be held in a conducive situation like that in previous years," said Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar.

The minister called on workers and employers to work together so as to celebrate May Day through various positive activities.

"Let`s use the May Day celebrations as a momentum to increase prosperity and work productivity. The May Day spirit is expected to become a main driver so that the government, businessmen and workers would cooperate in increasing workers` prosperity," he added.

According to the ministry's records, until the end of 2011, there were 6 confederations of workers` associations/labour unions (SP/SB); 91 SP/SB federations; 11,852 SP/SB in private companies and 170 SP/SB in state firms.

In Indonesia, the total number of SP/SB members amounts to 3.4 million people.

According to Media Indonesia, about 170,000 workers throughout Indonesia are expected to participate in street rallies to celebrate May Day on Tuesday. In Jakarta and its buffer zone areas, about 15,000 people from 8 labour federations are expected to hold rallies.

The plan is to undertake a long march from the Hotel Indonesia Traffic Circle to the Proclamation Monument. During the rallies, the workers will present four-point demands outlining their rejection of the government workers` outsourcing system and demanding that the government eliminate corruption in bureaucracies, nip the labour-judiciary mafia in the bud and grant reasonable payment to workers.

"The absence of these four points has, so far, clearly robbed workers of their rights," remarked Bambang Eka, the president of the Labour Working Group.

He stated that the contract-work practices imposed on outsourced workers obviously robbed workers of their right to a livelihood. "There is no work certainty and no severance pay, which causes workers to become poorer and poorer," Bambang added.

According to Sofjan Wanandi, chairman of the Indonesian Businessmen Association (Apindo), labour conditions in Indonesia, particularly in the informal sector, are quite distressing.

"The conditions of workers in the informal sector, which absorbs some 70 percent of workers, are quite saddening. Their fate must be improved," he stressed.

After all, workers are a nation`s assets. Their contribution to the national development is huge and has been proved to support national economic development. Nevertheless, the public perception still is that the workers` conditions in the country are bad and need to be improved.

Daily Kompas pointed out in its poll that the public still views worker welfare and legal protection for workers as a matter of concern. Over three-fourths of the respondents believed that the payment granted to workers was not enough to meet their basic needs.

In the meantime, employers, in the eyes of the public, are still reluctant to pay workers reasonably because they are more interested in accumulating profits. Though this is seen as a classical problem, there have been no significant efforts so far to improve worker conditions.

According to the public perception, the government does little to provide legal protection to workers. Therefore, the poll revealed that the public would encourage the government to improve four aspects of the situation, namely, social insurance, worker status, labour disputes, and discrimination between local workers and expatriates.

Regarding the legal issues, Rulita Wijayaningdyah of the Indonesian Forestry and Wood Workers Union (SP Kahutindo) was quoted by the Jakarta Globe as admitting that many cases were stalled in the court and remained unresolved because of appeals, in addition to the cases that "we have lost."

She added that although the Constitution and the 2003 Manpower Law clearly sided with workers, stipulating that outsourced workers should receive the same benefits as permanent employees, the problem was rooted in a lack of enforcement.

"The regulations are positive, but there is a problem with implementing them," she pointed out.

She declared that for May Day, SP Kahutindo intended to mobilize some 10,000 workers to participate in demonstrations across the country and join rallies demanding the full recognition of outsourced workers` rights, along with higher minimum wages.

In anticipation of the demonstration on Tuesday, Jakarta police spokesman Senior Commissioner Rikwanto stated that Jakarta would deploy some 16,000 security personnel to keep demonstrations under control.

"We have received notifications from several unions and groups who intend to take part in the rallies. We estimate that there will be some 50,000 demonstrators coming from all over Jakarta," the Jakarta Globe quoted Rikwanto as saying.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Manpower and Transmigration expressed hopes that workers as well as employers would observe the May Day rallies through positive activities such as participating in social service, seminars and sports activities.

"Observe May Day this year through social service and other peaceful activities. If you want to stage demonstrations, you should do it in a peaceful and orderly manner," the minister added.
(T.A014/INE/KR-BSR/O001)

Reporter: by Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2012