12 April, 2023Unions in Indonesia publicly condemn the national parliament for passing the emergency decree for Job Creation, into law on 21 March 2023. Nation-wide protests are planned on May Day, over half million workers are expected to turn up.
The IndustriALL Indonesia council, consists of 11 IndustriALL Global Union affiliates. Council chairperson, Iwan Kusmawan, said that the newly proposed law for Job Creation is identical the previous one which was declared conditionally unconstitutional by the constitutional court in 2021.
“We are outraged that due process is ignored, many anti-worker provisions remain unchanged. All Indonesian unions, students and civil society organisations strongly oppose the decision. We will soon file a judicial review at the constitutional court,”
Kusmawan added.
On 11 April, one hundred members of the Labour Party of Indonesia joined a demonstration against the new legislation at the main gate of the national parliament.
Unions argue that the provisions in the Job Creation Law will erode workers’ rights. The party vowed to hold protests against the Job Creation Law every Tuesday. A nation-wide street demonstration on May Day is planned and over half a million workers are expected to turn up.
The Job Creation Law in Indonesia was issued by President Joko Widodo in response to the economic impact of the pandemic and was intended to stimulate economic growth and create jobs by making it easier for businesses to invest and operate in the country.
However, the law has been consistently challenged by unions, they argue that it will undermine workers' rights and environmental protections. The law includes provisions that affect working hours, severance pay, contract work, outsourcing, and the ability of unions to organize and strike.
"IndustriALL stands in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the struggle against the Job Creation Law. As a democratic government elected by the Indonesian people, the government is duty bound to protect workers' rights, global crisis and economic slow-down should not be the reason to roll back workers' rights,"
said Shinya Iwai, IndustriALL regional secretary for South East Asia.
IndustriALL’s 3rd Congress passed a resolution urging the Indonesian government to cancel the Job Creation Law.