Yuli Yanna Fauzie, Jakarta -- According to the Ministry of Labour (Kemenaker) a total of 9,822 workers were dismissed (PHK) between January and November 2017 involving 2,345 cases throughout Indonesia.
“The sackings were because of retirement, temporary employment contracts (PKWT) [ending], outsourcing, re-designation and work contracts [ending]”, said Kemenaker Director General for Industrial Relations and Social Security (PHI and Jamsos) Haiyani Rumondang on Friday December 29.
Unfortunately, the Kemenaker does not have detailed information on dismissals based on industrial sector. Rumondang however said that there were mass dismissals in several sectors this year, mostly caused by a surge in digitalisation.
“There were several sectors. We don’t see it as being because of that (purchasing power), but more because of digitalisation. Banks, yes (one of the industrial sectors experiencing dismissals), but not the most”, he said.
According to Kemenaker’s data, dismissals that occurred because workers had reached retirement age amounted to 178 cases. This was followed by 583 cases resulting from PKWT ending, outsourcing or temporary work contracts 550 cases and re-designation 88 cases.
Based on region, the largest number of dismissals took place in East Kalimantan at 3,088 workers. This was followed by Jakarta with 1,929, Banten (West Java) with 1,663, East Java with 742 and Central Kalimantan with 537 dismissals.
This was followed by Aceh with 425 dismissals, West Papua province with 324, Riau with 262, Central Sulawesi with 169, West Sumatra with 157, South Sumatra with 140 and North Sulawesi with 108 dismissals.
Next was South Kalimantan with 87 dismissals, Jambi with 70, South Sulawesi with 25, Bali with 25, Central Sulawesi with 24, Bangka Belitung with 22 and Bengkulu with 15 dismissals.
Meanwhile there were several provinces where no dismissals occurred such as North Sumatra, Riau Islands, Lampung, West Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta (Central Java), West Kalimantan, Gorontalo, West Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, North Maluku and Papua province.
Nevertheless, Rumondang explained that the total number of dismissals recorded by the ministry is probably less than the actual number because dismissals were widespread this year.
“The total number of PHK is perhaps so many, but how could there have only been nine thousand or so dismissals? This is because there were parties [employers] who didn’t fulfill the obligations, didn’t report them, but perhaps also because of win-win solutions [sic] so they weren’t reported and the like”, he explained.
Meanwhile the latest data from Kemenaker that can be accessed notes that the total number of dismissals for Semester I 2016 was 7,954 workers covering 1,494 cases. (bir)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was Nyaris 10 Ribu Pekerja Kena PHK di Sepanjang Tahun Ini.]
