Indonesia braces for general strike over pay
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Tens of thousands of workers in Indonesia are boycotting their workplaces in a number of cities in a warm-up for a nationwide strike scheduled for today.
In Jakarta and surrounding areas, thousands of workers staged peaceful strikes.
Workers rallied in industrial estates in Pulogadung, Cilincing, Bekasi, Cikarang, Tangerang and Bogor to announce the nationwide strike. Most employers had no objection to the action as only some of their workers participated.
Tatang, a worker at PT Exel Metal Industry in Cibitung, Bekasi, told the Jakarta Post that the labour union at his company had sent only 10 to 15 representatives to a rally in Central Jakarta yesterday.
“There has been no disruption in production activities. Employees are working as usual. Those rallying aren’t from the morning shift; they’ll go to work after the demonstration,” he revealed.
Not all factories in that area were so fortunate. There was no activity at publicly listed packaging company PT Dynaplast, for example. The gate was shut and the production plant remained silent.
A security guard at the factory, who refused to be named, revealed that production was halted in the morning.
“If the condition is safe, the factory may resume operations in the evening. But I don’t know for sure,” he said.
Meanwhile, thousands of workers had rallied at the Jakarta Industrial Estate Pulogadung (JIEP) in Pulogadung, East Jakarta, since morning.
The industrial estate’s roads were filled with workers, while the factories along the main street looked empty with their gates closed. A number of security guards stood behind the fences and watched the workers pass by.
The strikers are demanding a minimum monthly wage of 3.7 million rupiah (Bt10,588).
“Our current wage [2.2 million rupiah] is not enough to buy makeup for our wives,” said one worker who goes by the single name of Asep.
Deputy Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said the city administration could not meet the workers’ demand and would instead adjust the minimum wage according to inflation and economic growth.
“The basic cost of living in 2014 will increase slightly to 2.3 million rupiah from the previous 2.2 million rupiah,” he said.
In Batam, Riau Islands, dozens of companies temporarily stopped production to allow workers to demonstrate.
“We are off on Monday, but we don’t know about tomorrow. The thing is today we’re all off, both management and employees,” said Nurani, a worker at cigarette maker PT Rock Indonesia.
