Thousands rally across Indonesia on May Day
By James Balowski, in Jakarta
May Day was commemorated across Indonesia by thousands of workers, students,
women activists and NGOs. Despite large turnouts in most cities, this year’s
demands were less militant, with a major focus on the Social Insurance
Management Agency (BPJS) law being deliberated by the House of Representatives
(DPR). Contract labour and outsourcing, union-bashing and wage increases amid
tougher working conditions and spiralling living costs were major themes.
In Indonesia’s northern-most province of Aceh, scores of mass media workers
demonstrated in the capital, Banda Aceh, condemning attacks on journalists and
demanding better safety guarantees and welfare. Alliance of Independent
Journalists (AJI) chairperson Mukhtaruddin Yakob said violence is a major
problem. The AJI recorded 66 cases of violence against journalists in 2010, and
the Committee to Protect Journalists lists Indonesia as a country where
journalists are at risk.
Contract labour
In Bali, students groups and the People’s Alliance for Democracy and Human Rights marched through Denpasar saying that labour laws
have marginalised workers by allowing the use of contract labour and
outsourcing. They also condemned the government for failing to pay attention to
migrant workers. Around 6 million Indonesians work overseas in menial jobs.
Despite contributing around US$6 billion (compared with US$4 billion in foreign
direct investment) in foreign exchange annually, they suffer widespread abuse
and receive little or no protection from the government.
In Bandung, hundreds of students and workers from the People’s Struggle Front
(FPR) protested at the West Java government offices, demanding welfare
improvements for farm and plantation labourers, factory workers, the unemployed
and students. “We have land, our land is stolen. We work hard and our wages are
cut. Our young people have no jobs”, said one protester. They also lamented the
lack of a National Social Security Program (SJSN) and called on the DPR to
ratify the BPJS law immediately.
The provincial government was targeted by around 500 workers from the
Indonesian Trade Union Congress Alliance (KASBI), who also held a theatrical
action depicting the oppression of workers. They raised women workers’ rights,
Enung Wiwin from KASBI saying that it is time for women workers to take the
lead. While conceding that some gains have been made, Wiwin said that women at
her factory have still not won the right to breastfeed at work.
In Boyolali, Central Java, hundreds of workers from the National Trade Union
(SPN) held a motorbike rally around the city, ending at the local labour
office, where they called for revisions to the laws on workers’ insurance and
the settlement of industrial disputes, rejected contract labour and called for
women workers’ rights.
Although the 2003 labour law requires companies to provide severance pay
to permanent employees - which is critical for workers when there is no social
security net - employers are circumventing this by exploiting a section in the
law that allows contract labour and outsourcing, progressively replacing
permanent workers with contract labour. Of the 33 million workers in the formal
sector, only 35% are now permanent, a decline from 76% prior to the law coming
into effect. The remaining 70% of the workforce is employed in the informal
sector, with little or no job security.
Jakarta
Jakarta had the largest mobilisations. Workers travelled to the capital from
outlying industrial areas and the satellite cities of Bekasi, Tangerang and
Depok. Most of the rallies centred on the State Palace in Central Jakarta,
where thousands of workers from different organisations had gathered after
marching from the nearby Hotel Indonesia traffic circle.
Prominent at the Jakarta protests was the Indonesian People’s United Resistance
(PPRI), an alliance of around 30 trade unions, student, women activists and
social and political organisations. Formed in March specifically for May Day,
PPRI includes the leftist Political Union of the Poor, the left-wing trade
union United Indonesian Labour Movement, KASBI sectoral unions, the Indonesian
Transportation Trade Union of Struggle, the Indonesian Labour Forum of
Struggle, the Association of Independent Trade Unions, the Indonesian Labour
Union Confederation, the Association of Indonesian Plantation Entrepreneurs,
the Awakening Trade Union, the Greater Jakarta Trade Union, Indonesian Trade
Union Jakarta, sectoral unions belonging to the All-Indonesia Workers Union
Federation, as well as AJI and youth organisations such as the Indonesian Youth
Front for Struggle and the Indonesian Student Union.
In speeches and leaflets handed out at the rally, the PPRI said the
administration of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is a capitalist regime
that fails to bring prosperity to the ordinary people, particularly the working
class. The PPRI raised three main demands: a 50% minimum wage rise; the
abolition of contract labour and outsourcing; and social security and the full
right to form trade unions.
Yudhoyono meanwhile - who for the last three years has stayed well away from
the Palace on May 1 - spent the day visiting factories in Bogor, West Java,
accompanied by former labour activist and People’s Democratic Party (PRD)
leader Dita Indah Sari, who is now the spokesperson for labour and
transmigration minister Muhaimin Iskandar. Sari was earlier criticised by union
leaders for defending Iskandar after Labour Department officials were accused
of giving 300 trade unionists 110,000 rupiah (US$13) and a hamper of food and
cooking oil to stop them protesting on May Day.
Free trade agreement
Also in Jakarta, workers from the SPN protested at the DPR, demanding the
cancellation of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA), which they said
is “paralysing the people’s economy in all sectors”. They also called for
immediate ratification of the BPJS law and the eradication of the judicial
mafia, particularly in relation to industrial relations.
The ACFTA, which came in to full effect last year, has resulted in a deluge of
Chinese products into domestic markets, threatening local industries. According
to a recent survey by the Ministry of Industry, the ACFTA has brought a sharp
increase in raw material imports, a decrease in domestic product sales, a decline
in producers’ profits and declining employment. The most affected industrial
sectors were textiles, furniture, metals, machinery and electronics.
Protesters from the SPN and the Trade Union Association also rallied at the
Department of Labour and Transmigration, where they rejected outsourcing and
called for the ratification of the SJSN law.
A rally by the Indonesian People’s Opposition Front (FORI) clashed with police
who prevented workers from entering the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Unable to break through the police blockade, protesters gave speeches at the airport
entrance rejecting contract labour and outsourcing.
Provincial actionsIn the Lampung capital of Bandar Lampung, hundreds of workers
and activists took to the streets on May 1. In the first of two actions, around
500 protesters from an NGO alliance called the Lampung People’s Struggle
protested at a major shopping centre demanding more attention to workers’
welfare and labour rights, which they said were being “trampled on by the
hegemony of power”. In another part of the city, the Bandar Lampung AJI called
for safety guarantees and higher wages.
In the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar,
around 1000 protesters from FORI scuffled with police when they tried to force
their way through a blockade and enter the Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport. The workers said that they had planned to occupy the airport because
they were tired of demonstrating at the Regional House of Representatives
(DPRD) and the governor’s office, where they were ignored. Another group of
workers held an action at a Makassar industrial zone.
Around 150 people from the FPR demonstrated in Purwokerto, Central Java, and
held a “sleep-in” in front of the city’s main square. In speeches, workers
demanded reasonable wages, the abolition of contract labour, protection for
migrant workers and the annulment of laws that “smack of neo-liberalism”.
Hundreds of people from the SPN and the PPRI marched through the Central Java capital
of Semarang. One of the PPRI activists, Rendra, said that the government does
not side with workers but with capitalists. “We are demanding three things: the
nationalisation of state assets for the people’s welfare, building a
people-based national industry and genuine agrarian reform.”
Two protests were held in the Central Java city of Solo. The first, led by
students from the Surakarta (Solo) Muhammadiyah University and the Solo
Solidarity Trade Union Federation, condemned the government and employers for
failing to pay heed to workers, called for an end to outsourcing and for wage
rises in line with the cost of living. A scuffle broke out when police tried to
intervene in a theatrical action depicting workers “destroying the walls of
capital”. Around 50 workers from the SPN rallied in the city centre, rejecting
outsourcing and calling for a reasonable wage and labour law revisions.
In Sukabumi, West Java, hundreds of workers from the SPN were prevented from
entering the grounds of the regional government office by police and military personnel.
In addition to raising concerns over workers’ welfare and health care, the
protesters also complained that employers were not allowing them time to
perform ritual prayers.
May Day in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta was commemorated by several
actions. The Yogyakarta AJI held a long-march from the DPRD building to the
governor’s office. A second demonstration by the Yogyakarta Labour Alliance
demanded the immediate ratification of the SJSN law and rejected contract
labour.
A short distance away, the Kulonprogo branch of the Volunteers of Democracy in
Struggle demonstrated against low wages and outsourcing. Hundreds of people
from the Yogyakarta Solidarity Committee Federation of Indonesian Independent
Workers also held a long march to the Yogyakarta DPRD rejecting low wages and
outsourcing and calling for companies violating the 2003 labour law to be
punished.
A protest in the city centre by the Carrefour Indonesia Trade Union and the
KASBI blocked the entire road and unfurled red banners with demands such as
“Reject outsourcing labour systems” and “Reject neoliberalism”. Students from
the Yogyakarta Student Union also held a sit-in at the provincial government
office .
[For the latest news on Indonesia visit <www.asia-pacific-solidarity.net>.]