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Bekasi Police Nab Seven Workers as Apindo Sits Tight
Ivan Dasa Saputra | January 21, 2012

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The labor unrest roiling in the Bekasi’s industrial parks took a turn for the worse on Friday, with the Indonesian Employers Association’s maintaining its refusal to accept the wage increases that was determined by the Bekasi government.

Bekasi Police arrested seven of the hundreds of factory workers who were visiting offices and encouraging a further day of direct action over the lawsuit lodged by the employer’s group, known as Apindo, against the 2012 pay rise.

“The protestors tried too forcefully to encourage other workers to leave their factories and join in protests. They asked them to hop on their motorbikes and join in a repeat of Thursday’s protests,” police spokesman Sr. Comr. Wahyu Hadiningrat said.

“They [the seven] are in detention at the South Cikarang police station.”

He said factory owners’ private security were working with metropolitan police to assist in securing the industrial estates belonging to Ejip Lippo Cikarang, Delta Silicon and Hyundai.

Police justified interfering in the workers’ protests on the basis that they had not applied for a permit and were banging on company’s fences demanding entry.

One worker, who declined to be named, said he refused to join the protests because he believed Apindo had withdrawn its legal action against the increases in Bekasi’s minimum wage on Thursday.

This, however, does not appear to be the case. Apindo on Friday called on employers to continue to pay at the 2011 wage level pending a decision by the West Java State Administrative Affairs Court on its lawsuit.

Apindo chairman Sofyan Wanandi said the employers had not withdrawn the lawsuit but rather requested a stay while it asked for further negotiations over the amount of the pay rise.

“It is important that we find a win-win solution for all parties. This is not a final decision. We have only put the case on hold, which is why I am asking companies to pay [the old rates] pending a final decision,” Sofyan said on Thursday.

The Bekasi government had agreed that three categories of 2012 minimum wage levels be increased by 16 percent, 25 percent and 31 percent, whereas the national wage council had recommended smaller increases of 10 percent, 15 percent and 20 percent respectively.

Sofyan said the amounts proposed by the national wage council were more affordable for small and medium enterprises, which make up 80 percent of businesses in West Java.

“Eighty percent of industries cannot implement the governor’s ruling on the minimum wage, and they asked us to negotiate and take the case to court,” he said.

Additional reporting from Antara