MS NINING Elitos is surprisingly soft-spoken for a labour leader. Indeed, there is nothing about her diminutive figure to suggest that she heads one of Indonesia’s fastest-growing and most militant confederations of trade unions.
I met Ms Nining in Jakarta last month together with Mr Simon, head of the union’s international relations division, and could not help but be impressed with the quiet determination of two people who could well help shape the future of the nation’s industrial relations.
With just 130,000 members, the Congress Alliance of Indonesian Labour Unions (Kasbi) is the smallest and youngest of the country’s four main union confederations. But it has grown quickly since its foundation in 2005, and has a well-earned reputation for getting its supporters to attend labour rallies. Members of the organisation are also easily recognisable on the street since they always wear red when staging protests.
The topic of my discussion with Ms Nining and Mr Simon was the recent unrest in Bekasi, a satellite city to the east of Jakarta known for its numerous industrial zones housing the factories of companies such as Samsung and Honda. In January, Kasbi was part of an alliance of unions that called upon thousands of workers to block a major toll road in the area, causing a massive 30km traffic jam.
Although quickly resolved, the unrest could mark a more militant chapter in Indonesia’s industrial relations as workers lose faith in the ability of the system to deliver justice.
Companies and investors have long criticised Indonesia’s labour laws for not being business-friendly, saying they are heavily biased in favour of the workers and include huge severance payouts. Trade union leaders, on the other hand, argue that in practice workers are not given adequate protection. They also say wage growth has not kept pace with inflation, and that most employers who whine about severance payments are in any case avoiding the problem by hiring workers on short-term contracts.
Every year, the minimum wage for each province in Indonesia is decided through a tripartite process involving the local authorities, labour unions and employers’ representatives.
The trouble in Bekasi began when the Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) challenged a West Java gubernatorial decree that sought to implement an agreement raising the minimum wage in Bekasi from 1.29 million rupiah to 1.49 million rupiah (S$179 to $205) a month. Union leaders such as Ms Nining saw this move as evidence of bad faith, and reacted angrily when the State Administrative Court ruled in favour of Apindo.
Many workers also apparently believed that the ruling had been bought. Sadly, the Indonesian judicial system is not known for its ability to deliver impartial rulings. Earlier the same month, an industrial court judge had been sentenced to six years in jail for accepting bribes from a company that faced a suit over the layoff of 176 workers.
Working with other major unions with affiliates in Bekasi, Kaspi felt it had no choice but to try something different. Earlier strikes and demonstrations opposing Apindo’s legal move, Ms Nining pointed out, had “failed to get the government’s attention”.
At 9am on Jan 27, tens of thousands of workers began blocking the main toll road between Bekasi and Jakarta. Within hours, there was total chaos. Acting on instructions from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Manpower Minister Muhaimin Iskandar flew by helicopter to Bekasi to negotiate a settlement. Agreement to respect the original tripartite decision was reached quickly, and workers began leaving the toll road at around 4pm the same day. However, the backlog was such that traffic did not return to normal until around 10pm.
While the protest was resolved swiftly enough, the switch to more confrontational tactics involved considerable risk. Would the unions block a toll road again in order to make their point? I asked. “Oh, yes!” responded Mr Simon emphatically.
“The workers are ready to defend their rights with their own bodies.”
Other unionists appear to have reached a similar conclusion. According to Timbul Siregar, chairman of the Indonesian Workers Association, another major trade union, “protesting in front of the mayor’s office or the State Palace is a thing of the past. Workers have learned that the way to be heard is to shut down the country’s economic vein”.
In recent months, there have been violent strikes in Tangerang, Riau and Batam. It may only be a matter of time before such militant action triggers a equally violent reaction from security forces, resulting in a major political crisis.
In recent years, South-east Asia’s largest economy has managed to restore investor confidence with strong economic figures, record investments and credit rating upgrades. It would be unfortunate if perceived injustices within the industrial relations system were allowed to deteriorate to the point where all those hard won gains were destroyed.