Thousands of workers to protest on May Day

At least 100,000 workers from the Greater Jakarta area are expected to stage a rally around the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta to observe International Workers Day.

The primary demands that the workers would make will be the abolition of outsourcing and decent pay for all workers.

“We will start to gather at around 9 a.m. at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle and wrap up the rally by reading out a manifesto at the Bung Karno Stadium. We will read the Indonesian Workers’ Manifesto, a document that will represent the demands of all Indonesian workers, not just union workers,” Said Iqbal, chairman of the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Union (KSPI) said on Sunday.

During the rally, the workers are expected to make five demands, which include retirement and social security payments for all workers and the revision of what they deemed as the government’s low wage policies.

“We demand all firms fully guarantee pensions for workers by early July this year. We learned that of 237,000 firms nationwide, only 500 have met their obligations [to provide pensions for workers],” he said.

Several other labor organizations, including the All-Indonesian Workers’ Union (KSPSI), Confederation of Indonesian Prosperity Trade Unions (KSBSI), the Federation of Indonesian Metal Workers’ Union (FPSMI) and the Indonesian Workers’ Organization (OPSI) are expected to join the KSPI-led rally.

Local offices of these organizations from Aceh to Timika, Papua, are expected to stage their May Day rallies by crowding local government offices.

Unions pledged that their rallies would be peaceful and bring minimal disruption to daily activities.

“We have no intention to destabilize the country or bring down the government. However, we want to warn the President that if he doesn’t pay attention to our demands, the movement will grow larger,” said Andi Ghani Nena Wea, chairman of the Confederation of the KSPSI.

He said that it was government policy itself that had created instability.

“If there is one thing that destabilizes the economy, it is government policy,” he added.

Separately, the Congress Alliance of Indonesian Labor Unions (KASBI) announced that it would also join the rally to the Presidential Palace on Tuesday.

KASBI chairperson Nining Elitos said that the rally would make demands for improvement in workers’ standards of living.

“In addition to our demand to criminalize outsourcing, we want the government to also guarantee decent pay for workers, which will enable access to education, health services and information,” Nining said. (png)