Workers celebrate May Day with huge street rallies
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Medan/Surabaya
Thousands of workers across the country took to the streets on Saturday to demand the government revoke rules and regulations that fail to protect workers and their welfare.
More than 5,000 workers assembled at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta at 9 a.m. Saturday, where union leaders and labor activists took turns voicing their demands.
Hundreds of former employees of PT Dirgantara Indonesia (DI) aircraft manufacturer and Hotel Indonesia were among thousands of people taking part in the protest, organized to celebrate May Day.
The workers were mobilized by trade union leaders and activists from various labor groups and organizations, including the National Front for the Struggle of Indonesian Workers (FNPBI), the Indonesian Labor Union Confederation (Gaspermindo), the Democratic People's Party (PRD) and the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI).
"We demand that the government review Law No. 13/2003 on manpower as well as other regulations that fail to protect us in disputes with the companies we work for," one speaker said.
"We reject a system that allows companies to recruit employees based on temporary contracts," another said.
At 11 a.m., the workers marched toward the presidential palace. Along the way, they took over the Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) station to air their demands.
Almost at the same time, thousands of other workers organized by the Cisadane Labor Committee marched from the Danamon Building in Central Jakarta to the House of Representatives compound.
The workers dispersed almost immediately after they reached the presidential palace and the House compound respectively. As Saturday was not a workday, neither the President nor House members were available to meet the workers.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri made an unscheduled visit on Saturday to two garment factories in the Pulo Gadung industrial complex, East Jakarta, on Saturday, where she spoke to factory workers.
"I am making this impromptu visit to observe the condition of workers whose rights and work safety are sometimes ignored," Megawati said.
In Medan, North Sumatra, hundreds of workers grouped under the North Sumatra Labor Advocacy Network held a rally amid alleged threats of dismissal by their employees.
Like their counterparts in Jakarta, the workers demanded that the government revoke Law No. 13/2003 on manpower and No. 2/2004 on industrial disputes.
The workers also urged the government to stop sending workers overseas due to rampant abuse, at times resulting in death, by their foreign employers.
In Surabaya, East Java, hundreds of workers rallied on Jl. Yos Sudarso, lambasting the government for not siding with underpaid workers.
"The law (13/2003) favors entrepreneurs more than workers, and this proves that the Megawati-Hamzah administration does not support workers," East Java Poor People's Front (FPRM) chairman Rudy Asiko said.
In Palu, Central Sulawesi, thousands of people from various organizations also rallied in front of the RRI compound to celebrate May Day.
The protesters called on workers and the public to reject contract workers, the privatization of state enterprises, oppose layoffs and demand salary increases.
They also burned pictures of President Megawati and Vice President Hamzah Haz and party attributes of Golkar, the Democratic Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
Labor protests also took place in Batam, Riau and Bandung in West Java.