Putu Ayu Palupi, Galih Priatmojo – Hundreds of workers from the Yogyakarta and Central Java United Workers Communication Forum (FKBB) held a demonstration at the Yogyakarta Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) on February 26. The action was held to oppose the Draft Omnibus Law on Job Creation.
The draft law is seen as failing to side with workers and articles in the law will harm the ordinary people because they facilitate the entry of foreign investors into Indonesia.
“Many of the articles will harm the ordinary people”, said action coordinator Ali Prasetyo during a break in the action.
According to Prasetyo, under the new draft law it will be easy to dismiss workers and reduce working hours if they join a trade union which is critical. This conflicts with Law Number 21/2000 on Trade Unions and guarantees of freedom of association.
Harm will also befall workers because wages will be calculated by the hour and allow for a reduction in severance pay. “This wage system will distance workers from job certainly because the social security network is still very weak”, he said.
Meanwhile DPRD Yogyakarta Commission B member R Dwi Wahyu who met with the demonstrators said that the draft law will not harm workers but rather it will abolish overlapping regulations.
However given the objections over several articles in the Omnibus Law, the Yogyakarta DPRD will convey these to the central government so that there can be improvements so it will not harm workers.
“The Omnibus Law was made not to harm workers but in the hope that it will benefit workers”, he said.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Dianggap Menzolimi, Buruh DIY Jateng Tolak RUU Omnibus Law Cilaka”.]
