10 Thousand Workers From 24 Provinces Hold Protests August 5, KSPI: Only In Factory Areas

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The President of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) Said Iqbal said the demonstration which will be held on August 5 will only be around the factory area. It is planned that the action will be attended by 10 thousand workers from a thousand factories in 24 provinces in Indonesia.

"This action is carried out in the factory environment. So later as a representative worker in each factory, he will leave the factory but remain in the factory environment," he said in a virtual press conference, Wednesday, July 28.

Iqbal said that the representatives of the workers who would protest at each factory were different. The range is between 10 to 100 people, depending on what management allows.

"So it's in accordance with the entrepreneur. It's never a worker if the actions are not licensed by the company. It's called a dispensation," he explained.

Furthermore, Iqbal said that the demonstration would last for 2 hours from 10:00 to 12:00 local time. This action will be followed by workers or laborers who work in various industrial sectors, especially those affected by the pandemic.

"Followed by workers who are on daily wages. Because their wages are daily, then self-isolation due to COVID-19 the wages are not paid. Then followed by workers who are laid off, the majority of this action will be followed by workers who work until today the factory operates 100 percent," he said. .

Later, said Iqbal, in the factory area the workers will fly the white flag. The flag is a symbol indicating that workers or laborers have given up on a situation where the transmission rate of COVID-19 has reached 10 percent.

"The death rate is high, vitamins and medicines for workers who are self-isolating are not provided with BPJS Kesehatan," he said.

Iqbal also emphasized that this action was purely the voice of the screams of the workers. He stressed that there was no politicization behind the action plan. He said, this action was purely based on the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused many workers to be laid off.

"There is no politicization. This is purely because of the factor that workers are paid daily salaries, due to the Omnibus Law. It makes workers miserable in the midst of a pandemic, the death rate is already very high. Exposure to COVID-19 in the labor cluster is already 10 percent higher on average," he said.

Iqbal said that during demonstrations, workers would also unfurl a banner containing the main demands, namely to save workers and the people, reduce the transmission rate of COVID-19, and prevent the explosion of layoffs or layoffs.

In addition, said Iqbal, in the action his party also voiced that the Job Creation Law Number 11 of 2020 was canceled. The way, he said, could be through a Perpu or the most likely way to speed up the trial of labor claims by the Constitutional Court.

"We also ask the government to impose a district/city sectoral minimum wage. It will definitely continue if it doesn't work," he said.