TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration is preparing a ministerial regulation that would implement the rule stipulate the Presidential Instruction No.9/2013 on factory workers' minimum wage. One of the points mentioned the presidential instruction stated that the workers' wage of labor-intensive industries should not be based on survey for decent living--set by the Wage Council.

"We are formulating the ministerial regulations that will not incur losses to businesses, and one that will still be based on workers' welfare," Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar said in his office yesterday.

In general, Muhaimin said, labor-intensive industries prioritize manpower, require no specific education, and does not require special skills. The minister said that labor-intensive industries and small-medium entrepreneurs have been complaining about the pressure from several labor groups asking for salaries that are in accordance with the decent living survey results. The businesses consider that providing salaries based on decent living is too burdensome for the companies.

In the instructions issued by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on September 29, the government gave a wage distinction between workers in labor-intensive industries and other industries. This distinction is given to areas with a local minimum wage below the value for decent living.

But the rule is opposed by workers groups and labor unions. Secretary-General of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI), Muhamad Rusdi, said that this was a form of wage discrimination that violates the Employment Act.

According to Rusdi, every worker has equal rights to receive wages that can provide them with enough money for a decent living.

"We reject this president's instructions and the differences used in determining wages," he said. The KSPI also asked the Wage Council to raise the minimum wage by 50 percent of this year's provincial minimum wage.

"This wage increase should be applied equally in all provinces," he asserted.

IRA GUSLINA SUFA