| Home > South-East Asia >> Indonesia | |
Workers commemorate May Day
Jakarta Post - May 2, 2013
International Workers Day, or May Day as it is more popularly called, was commemorated differently across the archipelago on Wednesday, ranging from entertaining performances to street rallies demanding improved working conditions and wages.
In Pekanbaru, Riau province, local workers and those from surrounding regencies including Siak and Kampar gathered at Politeknik Caltex Rumbai Square to watch an art performance and to participate in various traditional games.
The same fanfare was also evident in Dumai city, where workers held social activities and strolled along PT Pelindo Dumai's Pier D. Local unions had agreed not to stage rallies but instead organize positive activities, such as donating to workers' families or orphanages.
"This is our way of showing joy for the raise in the province's sectoral minimum wage [UMS]," said the Riau coordinator of the Federation of Indonesian Prosperity Trade Unions (FSBSI), Patar Sitanggang, referring to an 8.6 percent wage hike.
Workers in other regions protested on the streets. In Batam, Riau Islands, sweeps by unions to force workers to take part in rallies prompted engineering and construction company PT McDermott to send home its 3,000 workers, some of whom joined protestors at Alun-Alun Engku Putri Square.
In Palembang, South Sumatra, workers demanded the government ban outsourcing that disadvantaged workers and urged the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) to withdraw its challenge against province's minimum wage (UMP) at the Palembang State Administrative Court (PTUN).
In Yogyakarta, workers distributed flowers to female manual workers. "We expect a wage increase to meet our daily needs," said Tinah, one of the workers, adding that she usually worked from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. and earned a daily average of Rp 30,000 (US$3.09).
In Samarinda, East Kalimantan, workers called for better work safety and demanded local administrations force companies to implement the health and work safety program.
In Palu, Central Sulawesi, non-governmental organizations and workers grouped under Central Sulawesi People's Struggle Front staged a rally to demand the government revoke the licenses of recalcitrant oil palm plantation companies and those without environmental impact analysis (Amdal) documents.
In Semarang, Central Java, workers marched on the city's main streets, rejecting fuel price increases and demanding decent wages and a ban on outsourcing.
Separately, journalists in the city urged media companies to pay more attention to the welfare of their journalists, especially those working as contributors and correspondents in the regions.
Protest coordinator Arif Nugroho said contributors and correspondents received low wages. The same call was made by dozens of journalists in Bandung, West Java.
Alliance of Independent Journalists' (AJI) Bandung chairman Zaky Yamani said many mass media outlets in the city violated the law.
"They pay their journalists less than the city minimum wage, lower than others working in other fields, despite the fact that their jobs is high risk while at the same time their companies do not give them health and accident insurance," Zaky said.
See also:
 |