Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Members of the Confederation of Indonesian Labor Unions (KSPI) and the Jakarta Workers Forum will stage a rally on Tuesday to demand higher wages.

With the objective of putting pressure on Jakarta Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama to fulfill his promise to raise the provincial minimum wage to Rp4 million, the rally will be held in two different places in the capital, said Jakarta Workers Forum chief Winarso, who also heads the Jakarta chapter of KSPI, in a press statement released on Monday.

"A wage hike which only takes into account the inflation rate and is less than 20 percent will send Indonesia back to the low-wage regime," he stated.

Winarso noted that demonstrators will be divided into two groups, with one marching from the Pulogadung industrial estate to the office of Jakarta governor, and the other staging a protest outside Mercure Hotel where the waging council will convene a meeting.

"We consider the meeting illegal because it has not invited waging council members from across Indonesia and is being held behind closed doors," he said, adding that the meeting was part of the government`s attempt to legitimize a low-wage policy.

Reporting by Muhammad Arief Iskandar
(S012/INE/KR-BSR)

Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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