ASIATODAY.ID, JAKARTA – As many as 5 million workers in Indonesia are ready to carry out a national strike as an effort to fight for their demands regarding an increase in the 2024 minimum wage by 15%.
This action will be carried out from November 5 2023 until its peak on November 30-December 12 2023.
President of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) Said Iqbal said that in this action, 5 million workers would stop production and 100 thousand companies would stop operating. Workers in the transportation and port sectors were also involved in this action.
“This action is a serious step in efforts to fight for workers’ demands,” said Said in his written statement, Friday, November 17 2023.
He hopes that the government can respond to this strike by granting the workers’ demands, namely increasing the 2024 minimum wage by 15%.
The government has issued Government Regulation Number 51/2023 as a replacement for government regulation Number 36/2021 concerning Wages as a guide in determining minimum wages. In this regulation, adjustments to the value of the minimum wage are calculated using a minimum wage calculation formula taking into account the variables of economic growth, inflation and certain indices.
A certain index is symbolized by α, as a variable that represents the contribution of labor to the economic growth of a province or district/city. The α value is in the range of 0.10-0.30.
According to Said, a certain index value of 0.10-0.30 for economic growth, as stated in government regulation number 51/2023, does not reflect justice. Apart from that, this value makes wage increases very small amidst rising prices of basic necessities.
He said that the current wages are not commensurate with the increasing cost of living, social inequality and the current economy.
“Just for Civil Servants, it has been announced that their wages will increase by 8% – 12%, when the increase in workers’ wages is lower. “We agree and support an increase in wages for civil servants, but we demand wages for workers above civil servants,” he said.
He emphasized that decent wages are a key factor in improving the quality of life of workers and their families. Apart from that, living wages are also considered important in encouraging national economic growth.
“We believe that increasing living wages will have a positive impact not only on workers, but also on society and the economy as a whole,” he concluded. (AT Network)
Check out other news and articles at Google News