Immediate Task Force for Layoffs Formed, Government Wants to Prevent Wave of Layoffs

JAKARTA - The government is speeding up the formation of the PHK Mitigation Task Force to detect and prevent job termination before it actually occurs. This task force will bring together the government, labor unions, the police, and various stakeholders so that company issues can be handled faster.

Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi said the formation of the task force was the result of discussions that lasted almost a year with labor unions, a number of ministries, and with the approval of the President.

According to Prasetyo, the government deliberately appointed the Ministry of State Secretariat as a coordinator because it was considered able to bridge inter-agency communication and stakeholders.

However, the formation of the task force is officially still waiting for the completion of the organizational structure. The government will also involve the Police Manpower Desk so that all efforts to handle employment issues are in one coordination.

"Our task is to monitor, exchange information, and map companies that have the potential to lay off," said Prasetyo at the Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Friday, June 26.

He explained that each company's problem has a different character. There are companies that are affected because the supply of raw materials is disrupted, there are those who face internal management conflicts, even those who have difficulty due to problems in financial institutions where companies keep working capital.

Therefore, the government chose a one-by-one approach to each case. The task force will map the causes before determining the steps to resolve them.

Prasetyo revealed that in the first discussion, the government also received reports regarding a number of companies that still had old layoffs that had not completed their obligations to workers.

In addition to resolving old cases, the task force will also move earlier against companies that are beginning to show signs of difficulty so that waves of layoffs can be prevented before spreading.

According to Prasetyo, the main goal of the task force is not only to handle workers who have lost their jobs, but to try to make layoffs as unlikely as possible.