Hari Istiawan, Malang – Hundreds of workers from the East Java city of Malang gathered at the monument traffic circle to commemorate International Labour Day on May 1. Some of the workers also brought their children to take part in the mass meeting.

The workers, who came from several difference company based trade unions under the Indonesian Workers Solidarity Struggle (SPBI) said that the labour system in Indonesia does not side with workers. Moreover the government intentionally “sells” Indonesia’s cheap labour in order to attract foreign investors.

“Not to mention contract labour systems and outsourcing that adversely affect workers”, said action spokesperson Firman Rendi on Friday May 1.

The workers also demanded decent wages and the cancelation of a government plan to raise workers’ wages only once every five years. “The threat of dismissals for workers who fight for their rights also still haunts us”, he said.

Worse still is the conditions faced by media workers who do not have a work contract with media companies and whose wages are still below the minimum wages.

The secretary of the Malang Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), Yatimul Ainun said that the government must put pressure on media companies to fulfill the basic rights of journalists, many of which have still not been met to this day. “Pay journalists decent wages”, said Ainun. (ful)

[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was Rapat Akbar di Alun-Alun Tugu.]

Source: http://news.okezone.com/read/2015/05/01/340/1143179/buruh-malang-gelar-rapat-akbar-di-alun-alun-tugu