President of the Indonesian Labor Party and Confederation of the Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI), Said Iqbal, has revealed that hundreds of thousands of workers will hold rallies at industrial cities across the country on the International Labor Day, May 1, 2024.
“Over 200 thousand people are expected to participate in May Day throughout Indonesia, including in Jakarta, Bandung, Serang, Surabaya, Semarang, Batam, Makassar, Banjarmasin, Ternate and Mimika,” Said Iqbal said.
In Jakarta, as many as 50 thousand workers will gather at the State Palace from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm. Then they will move to the Madya Senayan Stadium, celebrating the May Day Fiesta.
Said Iqbal said participants would voice two main demands during the events throughout Indonesia, namely: Revoke the Omnibus Law on Job Creation and abolish Outsourcing while rejecting low wages.
He cited that the workers had nine reasons for rejecting the regulations. First, the minimum wage system, which returns to the concept of cheap wages.
Second, the outsourcing for life, with no restrictions on the types of work that can be outsourced. Outsourcing is regulated in a Government Regulation.
“That means the state is positioning itself as an outsourcing agent,”Said Iqbal said.
Third, the repeated contracts system, which allows a 100 times of contract. Said Iqbal said that such a system is similar to a lifetime contract, although there is a five-year limit.
Fourth, cheap severance pay. He revealed that under the previous regulation, a worker that is laid off by his or her company could get the severance pay which is double than the amount they would now get under the current regulation.
Fifth, about easy layoffs. Easy hiring easy firing is rejected by the Labor Party and trade unions. Easy firing, easy hiring makes laborers have no job security.
Sixth, flexible working hours.
Seventh, leave arrangements. This follows up on the lack of wage certainty, especially for women workers who will take menstrual or maternity leave.
Eighth, foreign workers. In the Government Regulation in Lieu of the Law (Perpu), it is regulated that foreign workers can immediately start to work and then take care of their administrative matters later on.
Ninth, the elimination of several criminal sanctions on labor copyright from Law No. 13/2003, which was previously abolished in the omnibus law.
In regards with HOSTUM, an Indonesian acronym for Hapus Outsourcing Tolak Upah Murah or Abolish Outsourcing, Reject Cheap Labor, Said Iqbal said that since the existence of the Job Creation Law, many companies have laid off permanent employees who are then replaced by outsourced employees with low wages.
“The use of outsourcing and contract systems has been massive throughout Indonesia since then,” he said.
In addition, with the Job Creation Law, the wage policy in Indonesia has become a cheap wage policy.
“Almost four years ago, wage increases were always below inflation. Even in some industrial cities the wage increase is zero percent,” Said Iqbal said.
He cited an example, in 2024, the wage increase in Tangerang Regency was 1.64 percent, Bekasi Regency 1.59 percent, Karawang Regency 1.57 percent, where the increase was below the 2024 inflation rate of 2.8 percent and below the economic growth rate of 5.2 percent.
“This cheap wage policy has resulted in the real wages and purchasing power of workers falling by 30-40 percent. In other words, in the last five years, workers’ real wages have fallen and there has been no wage increase. Even though economic growth has increased by 5 percent on average,” he said.
“This means that laborers do not enjoy the increase in purchasing power and the increase in economic growth is only enjoyed by the rich. Therefore, the Labor Party and KSPI will voice for HOSTUM: Abolish Outsourcing, Reject Cheap Labor,” he said.
