Jakarta – The Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) believes that the 10 years of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's administration has had a negative impact on workers' welfare.
According to YLBHI, the government has never involved workers in policies related to labour. Yet the YLBHI believes that these policies have had an impact on the protection and fulfillment of labour rights.
One of the policies that was highlighted by the YLBHI was the ratification of the Omnibus Law on Job Creation (UU Ciptaker) that occurred under the Widodo administration. The YLBHI considers the Ciptaker Law to be unconstitutional and that it ignored democratic principles in its formation.
"A regulation rejected by trade unions and many civil society organisations. There have been 38 lawsuits filed with the Constitutional Court, which led to ruling Number 91/PUU-XVIII/2020 that declared the Jobs Law conditionally unconstitutional", said the YLBHI in a written statement on Wednesday May 1.
And despite this ruling, the YLBHI said that the government instead chose to take a shortcut by issuing Government Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu) Number 2/2022, which was subsequently ratified by the House of Representatives (DPR), rather than revising the Jobs Law in accordance with the Constitutional Court's ruling.
In addition to this, said the YLBHI, Government Regulation Number 35/2021 also further legalised labor market flexibility in Indonesia.
This situation was further exacerbated by the ratification of Law Number 6/2020 on Domestic Apprenticeships and revisions to Government Regulation Number 7/2021 on Facilitating the Protection and Empowerment of Cooperatives and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
"These two policy packages have pushed the ordinary Indonesian people into merely following Jokowi's wishes: creating a work regime. The workers are required to continue working with minimal wages in the midst of soaring prices of basic necessities", said the YLBHI.
Therefore, coinciding with the commemoration of International Labor Day 2024, the YLBHI is first calling for the ordinary people and workers to unite to restore the damage done to democracy and to fight for the protection and fulfillment of citizens' rights.
Secondly, the YLBHI is also urging the government and the DPR to immediately revoke the Job Creation Law and its various derivative regulations that oppress workers' rights and keep workers and their families from achieving prosperity.
"Urging the government, the DPR, the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court to stop practices of authoritarian state management and the production of discriminatory regulations", the group said.
"Which ignore the principles of democracy, the constitution and human rights and only benefit investors and oppresses workers", they added.
Finally, the YLBHI also urged the police to guarantee protection and respect for the independence of citizens, especially workers, to organise, associate, gather and express opinions as mandated by the constitution.
While workers were demonstrating today at the Horse Statue near the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta, President Widodo chose to go on a working visit to West Nusa Tenggara (NTB).
In a posting on X (Twitter) on Wednesday, the President said that "Every worker is a daily hero who maintains the wheels of the economy. Let us continue the fighting spirit of the workers to achieve justice and mutual prosperity. Happy International Labor Day", tweeted Widodo. (tfq/sfr)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "May Day 2024, YLBHI Soroti Nasib Marginal Buruh di 10 Tahun Era Jokowi".]
