50,000 Workers in Jakarta Participate on Strike, Protesting Minimum Wage

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The President of the Confederation of the Indonesian Workers' Union (KSPI) Said Iqbal reported that around 50,000 workers in Jakarta will start their national strike today. The workers are demanding the provincial government of Jakarta revise the 2024 minimum wage hike to 15 percent.

"Today is the determining day for workers' struggle. Thus the workers will go on a national strike," Iqbal Said confirmed in a written statement received by Tempo on Thursday.

Halting mass production will occur in several industrial cities in Banten Province, West Java, East Java, and Maluku. "Involving hundreds and even millions of workers across Indonesia," he said.

In Jakarta, workers will go on a national strike in the Pulo Gadung industrial area and head to the City Hall in Central Jakarta for a rally.

The national workers' strike will resume until the governors provide certainty about the minimum wage in each regency or city. 

Workers in Jakarta are demanding that Acting Governor Heru Budi Hartono revise the minimum wage hike from 3.38 percent to 15 percent.

"It is illogical for Jakarta's minimum wage hike to be 3.38 percent while its surrounding regions got a much bigger [wage] increase. Bekasi City's minimum wage hiked up by 14.02 percent, Bekasi Regency by 13.99 percent, Depok City by 12.99 percent, and others. So, Jakarta's minimum wage could not be lower than Greater Jakarta," he said.

The strike, Said Iqbal, added, will continue as long as the workers' demands are not met. Said also urged protestors to remain peaceful and organized while expressing their demands.

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