A group of unions has demanded President Abdurrahman Wahid disallow a new labour rights bill, which was unanimously passed by the House of Representatives on July 10 but needs the president's approval to become law.
While the new bill gives workers more legal rights to form unions, it contains some significant omissions and loopholes which will legalise state interference, according to Romawaty Sinaga, an international officer of the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggles (FNPBI).
Seven other unions, grouped under the banner of Indonesian Solidarity Forum (FSUI), have joined with the FNPBI to reject the bill: the All-Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI), Indonesian Muslim Workers Association (Sarbumusi), Indonesian Muslim Workers Brotherhood (PPMI), Federation of Indonesian Finance and Banking Workers Organisations, Independent Journalists Association (AJI), Indonesian Free Workers Association and Workers Unions for Justice, Prosperity and Unity.
The bill, however, is being supported by the Indonesian Workers Prosperity Union (SBSI), which helped draft it. The SBSI is led by the high-profile Muchtar Pakpahan.
Labour minister Bomer Pasaribu is seeking to persuade unions to support the bill, on the basis that it awards more rights to workers than previous laws.
Under the regime of ousted President Suharto, workers were forced to join government-run "unions". Independent unions which did set up, such as the Indonesian Centre for Labour Struggles (PPBI), were forced to work underground or were smashed by the regime.
The new law states that the deregistration of the union can be ordered by workers, the company or the courts. According to the bill, a court can deregister the union if it endangered "security", as defined by the criminal code.
The new law guarantees public servants the right to belong to a public service union. It also guarantees freedom for those who do not want to join a union.
Sinaga told the July 11 Jakarta Post that only a union's members should have the right to dissolve the organisation. She also criticised the bill for not entrenching the right to strike. The bill also forces unions to report all overseas funding to the department of labour.
Australian unionists will be able to hear more about the new labour bill and workers' concerns when a representative of the FNPBI tours the east coast of Australia from late August. The tour is being sponsored by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) and speakers will address seminars organised by Unionists Against Corporate Tyranny (UACT). The union's representative will also be able to report on the campaigns decided upon by the FNPBI's second congress from July 23-26.
Having only formed a year ago, the FNPBI has extended its coverage of workers from the food and beverage, garment and textile, chemical, mining and transportation sectors to now cover timber and forestry, metal (including the automotive section), maritime (mainly dock workers), tourism and plantation workers. The union has taken a strong position against the government's neo-liberal austerity "reforms" arguing that they have been the cause of low wages, rising prices and the privatisation of services.
The growing popularity of the FNPBI's anti-austerity position was reflected in its successful May Day 2000 action, which drew 5000 workers in Jakarta and tens of thousands in other regions.
BY PIP HINMAN