May Day in Indonesia: Protestors crowd Jakarta

Today is Monday May 1st, May Day in Indonesia. Though not a National Public Holiday, May Day represents a day time to recognize workers rights. That whole subject is debatable the world over. If you are a worker, you’ll be for workers rights, if you’re an employers, you’ll seek to push them back. There are exceptions, but that’s how is works.

Indonesia is trying to reform the employment situation by making it easier for employers to fire employees. Not being able to do this easily before, plus having to pay severance packages (1 month pay for every year worked), made it hard for cash strapped employers to react quickly during a change in the market. I moved from Oregon to Bali in 2003. Back there you have an almost opposite situation, whereby an employer, can fire an employee at any time and doesn’t even have to give a reason. Some would say that’s going a bit far.

Anyway, true to form, there will be big demonstrations in Jakarta today with the chance of violence. SBY has ordered 13,000 extra police in the city an tourists are advised to stay out of the way. There will also be demonstrations in Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi. Here in Bali people sometimes go off when they get fired. My neighbor fired her driver a couple of months ago. He seemed a decent polite guy and I don’t know exactly what he did. The day he got fired he phoned her up shouting and screaming, saying he was coming back at night to do her harm. Anyway, lets hope a desirable outcome to the labor laws can be reached.

Here’s what the Jakarta Post says ‘Tens of thousands of workers from various areas in Greater Jakarta have begun marching along major streets of the capital to commemorate Labor Day. The workers who came in buses and trucks, started their demonstration at around 10 a.m. Monday in the parking lot of the Bung Karno Sports Complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta. The main targets of the demonstration are the House of Representatives, the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, the Presidential Palace, the Vice Presidential Palace, the National Monument (Monas) park and City Hall.

They voiced their strong opposition to the revision of the labor laws, the draft of which is being prepared by the government and is scheduled to be submitted to the House for deliberation this month. Traffic in several parts of the city was disrupted, with authorities closing some of Jakarta’s main roads, Bloomberg News reported. PT Angkasa Pura II, the operator of Jakarta’s airport, canceled five domestic flights after 1,000 workers blockaded a road leading to the airport, Wasfan, a spokesman for the company, said. International flights weren’t affected.

The government is revising the 2003 Labor Law following complaints from employers that the bill gave workers too many benefits and dealt a blow to the country’s economic competitiveness and its attractiveness to investors. The Indonesian Trade Unions Congress (KSPI) said at its statement that its organization would deploy at least some 40,000. Jakarta Police Chief Ins. Gen. Firman Gani, however, told reporters he expected 30,000 to 50,000 protesters in the capital alone, and that he had deployed some 13,000 extra police officersin the city.

As many as 21,000 police, soldiers and other security personnel have been deployed in sensitive areas, such as the presidential palace, the legislature, and the National Monument (Monas) to prevent violence. The protesters also hope to pressure political leaders and businesses into providing health insurance, and paying higher wages and travel costs to laborers, rally organizer Arief Poyuono was quoted by AP as saying.

Embassies and international companies in the capital told foreigners to stay away from the demonstrations, fearing they could turn violent. Unions have said they expect tens of thousands more to demonstrate in other major cities on the islands of Sumatra, Kalimantan and Sulawesi. The demonstrations come ahead of a new round of negotiations for a major overhaul of labor laws involving unions, industry leaders and lawmakers.

Union leaders are concerned that changes to the law could undermine workers’ rights. Businesses are seeking changes to the law enabling them more flexibility to hire and fire, respond more quickly to economic changes and keep costs low. “In today’s May Day celebration, we want to underline that we demand that the government not change the current Labor Law,” Poyuono said.

Last month, workers angry at proposed changes to labor laws staged a massive rally outside the presidential palace in Jakarta. The demonstration forced the government to drop its plan to strip back severance packages and introduce more flexible contracts that would permit companies to hire workers for up to five years without making them permanent staff.’

Everything calm and peaceful in Bali.