News

Thousands of Indonesian workers are taking strike action to call for higher salaries and better social welfare.

The nationwide strike will last two days and comes after hundreds of thousands of workers took to the streets recently to demand a fair minimum wage and protection from phoney employment contracts.

Living costs in Indonesia have soared recently due to a hike in fuel prices paired with rising inflation. Fuel prices rose after the government cut a large fuel subsidy earlier this year. This in turn led to higher consumer prices, which, according to the BBC, have grown at an annual rate of more than 8 per cent in each of the past three months.

UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings said, “It was the workers that made Indonesia’s economy strong and they want a fairer share.”

“It is absolutely vital that each and every worker is afforded the dignity of a fair minimum wage, job security and proper social welfare.”

A 2012 poll by the ITUC showed that public opinion in Indonesia strongly favours better labour protections and a decent minimum wage (http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/120604_-_ituc_poll.pdf). The poll showed that 61% of Indonesians want better laws to protect job security, while only 43% of households are able to save any money.  90% support government action in favour of health care and education.

ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said, “Indonesian workers are putting forward straightforward demands that working people everywhere recognise are just and necessary.

“Workers there deserve a fair share of the economic cake just like anywhere else, and we wholeheartedly support their struggle for dignity at work and an economy that works for all"