Semarang – The Nusantara Trade Union Confederation (KSPN) alluded to former Central Java governor and presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo and acting Central Java Governor Nana Sudjana during a demonstration commemorating International Labour Day.
Central Java KSPN Chairperson Nanang Setyono said the fate of workers in the province was ironic during the 10 years that Pranowo was the governor of Central Java.
Similarly, he said, the current acting governor Nana Sudjana has also not done anything plosive for workers.
"The fate of workers in Central Java is the most ironic and suffering. Over these 10 years we have had a governor, who the other day took part as a presidential candidate [in the 2024 presidential election], [yet] workers' quality of life has deteriorated", said Setyono speaking in front of the Central Java governor's office in the provincial capital of Semarang on Wednesday May 1.
"Now it is being continued by the acting governor, how come it's the same, even the UMP (provincial minimum wage) the other day only rose by 4.06 percent", he added.
Setyono said that while Pranowo was the Central Java governor, workers' quality of life continued to decline because the annual increases in the minimum provincial (UMP) and regency (UMK) wage were very small.
This situation, said Setyono, has been continued by the current acting governor Nana Sudjana. At present, he said, Central Java is categorised as the province with the lowest wages in all of Indonesia, especially Banjarnegara regency.
"We have relatives in Banjarnegara, their wages are the lowest in all of Indonesia. To this day [the minimum wage] is still at 1.9 million rupiah [a month]", said Setyono.
The May Day actions in Semarang were held by two different groups, namely those that held an action around mid-day and others later in the afternoon. The Semarang metropolitan district police deployed 1,300 personnel to secure the commemorations in Semarang.
"Earlier this morning we approached the workers so it would be an orderly action and thank God up until this afternoon the situation has been conducive", said Semarang deputy metropolitan district police chief Assistant Superintendent Wiwit Ary Wibisono at the location of the action.
As quoted from the official Central Java provincial government's website, on Monday November 28, 2022, Pranowo announced an increase in the Central Java UMP to 1,958,169 rupiah per month.
This was an increase of 145,234.26 rupiah or 8.01 percent from compared with the 2022 UMP of 1,812,935 rupiah.
At that time, Pranowo also asked Banjarnegara to increase the UMK to bring it in line with the UMP because the Banjarnegara UMK was still less than the Central Java UMP.
Meanwhile Sudjana set the increase in the 2024 Central Java UMP at 4.02 percent meaning the UMP which previously was 1,958,169 rupiah increased by 78,778 rupiah to Rp 2,036,947 rupiah a month. (dmr/bmw)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "May Day, Buruh Jateng Sindir Keras UMP Era Ganjar dan Pj Gubernur".]
