The Manpower Bill will repeal or amend six Ordinances and eight Acts.' Despite their limits, these regulations offer more protection than the new Bill. Indonesia: PRD Congr
The outlawed Peoples' Democratic Party (PRD) held its first National Congress in Jakarta on August 30-31. All but two of the regional (KPK) leaderships were present.
The congress was opened by a recorded speech [from jail] by the PRD chair, Budiman Sujatmiko. He said that the dictatorship had made the PRD their main target because "the PRD has the potential to grow strong."
Some delegates admitted that the PRD had rarely worked with other groups, but said that it had become more open since 27 July 1996. Others said that the PRD practical action was in contradiction with its programme of establishing a Peoples' Democratic Coalition. Use of "communist symbols" in some actions was also criticised by observers from other pro-democracy groups, who said this had strengthened the regime's accusations that the PRD are truly communists.
Delegates approved a report on the political situation which argued that: "The peoples' consciousness is already clear, that is anti- dictatorship consciousness; the peoples' [anti-regime] sentiment is strong and widespread; the people are already actively resisting the dictatorship though small confrontational and radical actions which the New Order regime calls 'riots'."
"Based upon this analysis," the report continues, "the objective political conditions can be categorised as [a period 24 International Viewpoint #293
The new legislation embodies all of the anti-worker legislation which prompted mass protests and strikes recently in South Korea and Australia. As members of the APEC free trade system, the governments of these countries have imposed a neo-liberal agenda which combines free trade and freedom for international capital with strong state intervention to repress workers' movements and systematically destroy workers' collective rights.
Labour standards in industrialised and newly industrialising countries are being driven down by global competition to attract transnational capital. Countries such as Indonesia are driving standards even lower by institutionalising their repressive labour practices. The proposed law only clarifies workers' rights to the extent that it's clear they don't have any.
If the Manpower Bill is passed, it will impose the following, severe restrictions on the right to organise and freedom of association, the right to bargain collectively eSS when] the people are already actively [resisting the dictatorship]. When the people were still passive, our strategy was based on agitation and propaganda, with the aim of exposing the rottenness of the New Order and encouraging the people to resist. But now that they are actively [resisting], our strategy is to push for radical and confrontational actions, to turn revolts such as [those we have seen recently] into organised rebellions, which can become a nation wide uprising to overthrow the military dictatorship under Suharto. The task of our party is to provide vanguard leadership so that these riots are not diverted into issues of ethnic, religious, racial and inter-group conflicts, and direct them towards specific targets such as soldiers, military headquarters, government offices, and the houses of government officials."
"For this," the report concluded, "the party's programme is to build a structure of resistance. A structure of resistance is an organisational [structure which prepares for radical and confrontational actions which have a mass base in the suburbs, local districts and factories and are co-ordinated nationally. This structure has the task of contributing to radical and confrontational mass actions and giving national co-ordination to them." * Source: PRD statement, translated by ASIET.
and the right to strike. Without these fundamental rights the provisions in the Bill concerning wages and working hours cannot be monitored or enforced Restrictions
• Restrictions on freedom of association and reinforcement of the system requiring unions to be registered with and approved by the Government (Article 34). This reinforces the Decree of the Minister of Manpower (No.PER01/MEN/1994) on the establishment of trade unions in workplaces, whereby all trade unions must register with the Ministry of Manpower and provide a list of names of trade union committee members. The Decree bans union pluralism in the workplace and states that trade unions must seek affiliation to the Government-controlled All Indonesia Workers' Union (SPSI).
• Severe restrictions on the right to strike, with unlimited power of Government intervention to end disputes. These restrictions include the requirement that workers seek permission from the Government at least 72 hours before strike action, and that the names of strike leaders must be submitted to the Government (Article 85).
• A ban on sympathy strikes and strikes which are not directly related to the company concerned. (Article 83)
• Article 84 further undermines workers' right to strike by stating that: "Workers shall have no rights to wages during a strike."
• Strike action is restricted to company grounds, and any strike action taken outside is illegal. This effectively prevents workers from participating in protest marches or public demonstrations. At the same time, Article 88 allows employers to expel workers from the company grounds: "All employers have the right to start a lockout."
• Collective bargaining rights are not guaranteed.
• Collective agreements only need to contain references to the "rights and obligations" of employers and workers, and company rules and regulations. Agreements do not need to contain specific provisions on wages, working hours, or working conditions. Also, employers can replace collective agreements with "company regulations" when a union "no longer exists" in the workplace.
• Collective agreements must be negotiated "without any pressure" which means workers cannot petition the management or threaten industrial action to enforce their demands.
• There is inadequate protection against unfair dismissal. In addition, Article 78 fails to guarantee the right to compensation for dismissed workers by stating that dismissed workers should receive severance pay or service money or compensation, when in fact workers should he entitled to all of thece workers should be entitled to all of these.
• There is inadequate protection of the rights of women workers, child and youth labour, Indonesian workers for overseas employment, and foreigners. This problem also applies to the provisions on health and safety.
• Several articles in Bill contain the qualification that regardless of the "rights" granted to workers, the Government has the unlimited (and unchecked) power to interpret and determine the application of these provisions. Examples include Overtime (Article 96) and Rest Times (Article 97) Consolidating State Repression
Throughout the Manpower Bill there are references to "Pancasila Industrial Relations", " which subordinates all labour issues to the decisions of the Government over national interests, unity and order. Article 24 of the Manpower Bill reinforces authoritarian control over workers and trade unions by asserting that all activities must conform to "Pancasila Industrial Relations" which is "designed to promote harmonious, integrated and compatible industrial relations" whereby "all workers shall promote a sense of belonging to and awareness of maintaining and preserving the business." This aspect of the Manpower Bill will give the Government the Manpower Bill will give the Government power to enforce an existing Decree issued by the Minister of Manpower in 1994 which states that: "The trade union at the enterprise level is characterised by the principles of Pancasila" [the regime's nationalist ideology] and its role is "to ensure continued existence of the enterprise" and "increase the productivity of workers".
The Manpower Bill further diminishes workers' rights by expressly defining workers as a national resource and as goods to be used for national development, where "manpower development aims to regulate, supervise and control the activities pertaining to manpower." Whereas an employer is
Indonesia * defined in the Manpower Bill as "a person", a worker is defined only as "manpower".
Finally, the Bill excludes workers' organisations, trade unions and other labour organisations not registered with and approved by the Ministry of Manpower from providing support to workers in strikes, labour disputes or collective bargaining negotiations. This will leave workers relatively powerless in the face of government officials and pro-government union officials whose interests are aligned with foreign and domestic capital. Taking action
In response to the threat this Bill poses to workers' fundamental rights and to the labour movement, a coalition of Indonesian NGOs and genuine workers' organisations launched a campaign in March of this year to express their opposition to the Bill. Their public criticism of the Bill and demands for significant revisions to include fundamental workers' rights has gained widespread support among workers and local communities.
The President of Indonesia has demanded that there be "no criticism" of the Manpower Bill. Independent workers' organisations and labour activists in Indonesia disagree! *
Send letters of protest to: 1. The Office of the Minister of Manpower, Fax: 62 21 525 3913 2. The House of Representatives, Fax: 62 21 573 4804 3. President Suharto, Presidential Palace Istana Merdeka Fax: 62 21 384 5627 Send copies of your protests to: Indonesian Legal Ald Foundation (LBH), Fax: 62 21 330 140 For further information contact: APE Labour Rights Monitor (ALARM) by email: alarm @hk.super.net or fax Asia Monitor Resource Centre (AMRC) in Hong Kong: (852) 2385 5319 Notes 1. Ordinance No.8 of 1887 on Recruitment of Indonesians for Overseas Employment 2. Ordinance No.647 of 1925 on Measures Limiting Child Labour and Night work for Women 3. Ordinance No.87 of 1926 on Measures Child Labour and Youth on Vessels 4. Ordinance of 1936 (State Gazette No.208) on Recruitment 5. Ordinance of 1939 (State Gazette No.545) on Repatriation of Workers who are employed or recruited outside of Indonesia 6. Ordinance No.9 of 1949 on Amending Regulation on Measures Limiting Child Labour 7. Act No.1 of 1951 on Labour Act No.12 of 1948 of The Republic of Indonesia bringing into operation throughout Indonesia 8. Act No.3 of 1951 on Labour Inspection bringing into force Act No.23 of 1948 9. Act No.21 of 1954 on Collective Labour Agreement between Trade Unions and Employers 10. Act No.22 of 1957 on Settlement Labour Disputes 11. Act No.3 of 1958 on The Employment of Foreigners 12. Act No.7 of 1963 on The Prevention of Strike and Lock Out in vital companies, public enterprises, and institutions 13. Act No.12 of 1964 on Termination of Employment in Private Undertakings 14. Act No.14 of 1969 on The Basic Provisions Respecting Manpower.
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Egyptian farmers