Labor Party Rebirth Triggered by Job Creation Law: Said Iqbal

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Labor Party president Said Iqbal on Tuesday said the passing of the Omnibus Job Creation Law (UU Cipta Kerja) is the reason behind the birth of the Labor Party. He argued that it only benefits capitalists over the millions of workers.

“The UU Cipta Kerja was the trigger for the rebirth of the Labor Party,” Iqbal said in the party’s public declaration on Tuesday, October 5. 

Said Iqbal, who is also the president of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI), pledged that workers unions will no longer take to the streets to fight for their rights but rather use the parliamentary route even though both are guaranteed under the Constitution, he said.

According to Iqbal, the party will fight against the practice of outsourcing. He compared to how the United States responds to the business practice.

“The U.S has restricted it, but Indonesia acts above the super-capitalistic America,” he said in the event. 

Apart from the business practice of outsourcing, he also criticized the regulation for contract workers covered in the Job Creation Law (UU Cipta Kerja), the eradication of the sectoral minimum wage (UMSK), unpaid leave, exploitative working hours, and the dropping protection against female workers. 

Iqbal insisted that the Labor Party must exist in industrialized nations, as other countries. This marks the emergence of the party after it was first founded two decades ago by activist Muchtar Pakpahan.

Read: Jokowi Passes Workers Rights Derivatives of Job Creation Law

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