Puan Gives Warning To 'Stubborn' Companies: Don't Kidding, Give Salary According To The Rules

Illustration of workers in the infrastructure sector (Photo by John Salvino on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, reminded companies to comply with the payment of minimum wages to their workers. He asked the government to tighten the monitoring system and take firm action against wage violators.

"Violations of the minimum wage have often happened so far. The government must not ignore it, and must take firm action against companies that violate the minimum wage because it is very detrimental to the people as workers," said Puan, Tuesday, November 16 yesterday.

Puan also reminded that entrepreneurs could be subjected to criminal sanctions if they violated the wage rules starting next year. Based on Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning Job Creation, Puan said, employers can be subject to a maximum of 4 years in prison and/or a fine of up to Rp400 million if they pay their workers below the minimum wage.

"Entrepreneurs can't play games, and have to give employees salaries according to the wage rules if they don't want to be penalized!" stated in a written statement.

Puan added that the Job Creation Law also eliminates the opportunity to postpone the implementation of the minimum wage for entrepreneurs, which was previously regulated in PP No. 78 of 2015. With the new regulation, employers must follow the current regulations.

"Next year, the government will remove the suspension. Especially now that some economic sectors have started to revive after the Covid-19 pandemic has improved," said Puan.

“So there is no reason for entrepreneurs to apply substandard wages except for micro and small scale entrepreneurs, which are indeed excluded. Don't burden people's lives more for the sake of the company's profits," he added.

Puan underlined that there are still many medium to large scale companies with very low levels of compliance in paying workers according to the minimum wage. He stressed that this should not happen again considering that currently the minimum wage increase is very small.

“With the new system, the increase in worker wages will be smaller than in previous years. Because of this condition, the company must be more consistent in providing workers' rights according to the applicable regulations," said Puan.

The former Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture also asked the government, in this case, the Ministry of Manpower (Kemenaker) to strengthen the socialization and supervision system for companies. Because Puan received many complaints that violations of the minimum wage often occur due to lack of supervision.

“The number of labor inspectors must be increased so that they can quickly find various problems that occur between workers and companies. Of course, the capacity and quality of the supervisors must be qualified. This is a PR for the government,” he explained.

Strict supervision is considered to increase company compliance in providing decent wages to workers. Moreover, the increase in the minimum wage in 2022 will average only in the range of 1%.

"We are grateful that next year the minimum wage for workers will increase, compared to this year, which did not exist. But the company must really implement a low increase so that it can help workers who are still having difficulties in meeting their daily needs in the midst of the pandemic," concluded Puan.