TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A number of workers unions hold a rally at the House of Representatives (DPR) Building today, on Monday, January 20, 2020. The Confederation of Indonesian Worker’s Unions (KSPI) Chief of Daily Operation, Muhammad Rusdi, has stated that the demonstration is a protest against (RUU) the Omnibus Law draft on job creation, deemed to be harmful to a great number of people.

“On Monday, 20th of January, 2020, it’s our turn from KSPI, us workers, to Inshaallah (by God's will) to give our totality because this threatens and reduces the welfare quality of the workers and threatens the future of the nation's children,” Rusdi said in the Legal Aid Institute Office, in Jakarta, on Sunday, January 19, 2020.

Rusdi then went on to claim that if the aspirations of the workers' demonstration were not heard, then the workers had planned further protests by holding strikes in various sectors.

“The strike would not just include factory workers, but also workers from offices. Our workers in Indosat, Telkomsel, Antara, XL, will leave,” Rusdi stated.

“We discussed for the strike to be on a national scale, and not just workers; but also the undergraduate students, school students and other civilian elements.”

The workers' demonstration centered in Jakarta is set to be attended by around 30 thousand workers from the capital as well as Banten and West Java. This demonstration will also be held simultaneously in 20 other provinces, including Aceh, North Sumatra, Riau Islands, Bengkulu, Riau, Lampung, Central Java, East Java, South Sulawesi, North Sulawesi and Gorontalo.

One of the agendas for the demonstration is the fact that permanent workers can be replaced to become contract workers with no increases in wages. In addition, another agenda is to protest against the fact that contract workers will not receive severance pay from work termination (PHK).

Furthermore, Rusdi has said that there will be many internship workers from universities who have graduated so that wages can be given not in accordance with minimum wage standards.

Lastly, the Omnibus Law draft is deemed to remove the minimum wage requirement to become a minimum daily wage. “District/city minimum wages will also be removed,” he said.

EKO WAHYUDI | DIO SUHENDA