Strike against labour minister
A strike wave continues in Indonesia with strikes occurring in individual factories almost every day.
The latest to get into the mainstream media is a by more than 400 women workers from Sarinah Jaya Indonesian Product Centre. This is a garment factory owned by the Sarinah Jaya Department Store conglomerate, which is headed by millionaire businessman and minister for labour Abdul Latief.
The 400 workers have demonstrated twice outside the national parliament during the last week. As a result, 10 so-called "instigators" have been "sent home". There has been no response to their demands.
According to Tempo of 19 June, Latief's workers are demanding an increase in wages above the current $2 per day, an end to the practice of women workers having to be physically examined when they seek menstruation leave and the election of an independent union unit. Their boss was in Geneva at an International Labour Organisation meeting.