Jakarta – The Indonesia Labour Movement (GBI) has agreed to form its own political party following the commemoration of May Day 2015.
“The party will be established from confederations, federations, trade unions and other people’s movement organisations”, said Ilham Syah from the Indonesian Labour Union Confederation Preparatory Committee (KP-KPBI) at a press conference in Jakarta on Thursday April 23.
During the press conference Syah explained that this year’s May Day would be the biggest labour action ever. “There will be around 178,000 protesters at May Day, this will be the biggest action [so far]”, he said.
The May Day action will be making a number of demands, include among others, calling for the cancellation of five-yearly wage increases, revisions to Ministerial Regulation Number 19/2013 on outsourcing, a total revision of Law Number 2/2004 on the settlement of industrial disputes (PPHI), protection from the state for workers that fall victim to mass dismissals and the drafting of a law on protecting workers.
The technical aspects of the formation of the political party will be discussed after May Day. The move has been made as a result of workers’ dissatisfaction with the lack of attention from the government.
[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was Setelah Gelar ‘Mayday’, Buruh Berencana Bentuk Partai Politik.]
