Emergency PPKM In Yogyakarta Affects Bad News, 3,000 Tourism And Hospitality Sector Workers Potentially Terminated And Laid Off

JAKARTA - The Emergency PPKM policy which has been implemented since July 3 in Yogyakarta City has had an impact on a number of sectors, including the workforce, which is estimated to have around 50 percent of the workforce potentially being laid off until they experience termination of employment.

"This figure is only potential. It does not necessarily happen because it is still limited to assumptions obtained from the results of communication with a number of parties such as the Yogyakarta City Wage Council which consists of elements of entrepreneurs, labor unions and the government," said the Head of Welfare and Industrial Relations of the Social Service Yogyakarta City Manpower and Transmigration Rihari Wulandari in Yogyakarta, quoted from Antara, Wednesday, July 14.

According to him, one of these assumptions is seen from the sector that is considered most affected by the Emergency PPKM policy, namely tourism or hospitality accommodation services.

In the city of Yogyakarta, there are around 600 hotels, both star and non-star hotels, which are able to absorb around 6,000 workers.

However, he continued, the COVID-19 pandemic which requires restrictions on community mobility has made tourists who are the main consumers of hospitality services in the city of Yogyakarta experience a decline.

"Since the travel restrictions were first introduced in 2020, the number of workers in the tourism accommodation sector has been directly affected and there are only around 1,200 active workers," he said.

Under current conditions, Rihari continued, the number of tourists or hotel guests is decreasing or even almost non-existent, so entrepreneurs have implemented various policies to reduce operational costs, including arranging employee work shifts or laying them off.

"There are only half of the workers who come in because they follow government regulations," he said.

Although many business actors have experienced the impact of Emergency PPKM, Rihari said, entrepreneurs have the awareness to comply with all government regulations so that the COVID-19 pandemic can be handled better and then the economy can grow gradually.

He also asked employers to continue to provide wage rights to workers who were laid off during the Emergency PPKM.

"The value of wages given must be based on an agreement between workers and employers by prioritizing a sense of kinship," he said.

The provision of wages indicates that the worker still has a working relationship with the employer.

In addition, the Yogyakarta City Manpower and Transmigration Social Service has also submitted questionnaires or data collection to 250 business actors related to Emergency PPKM, namely data collection on the business sector, the number of workers who enter, and indicators of the implementation of health protocols applied.

"The data is directly submitted to the DIY Government because the supervision is under the authority of DIY," he said.