Muh Syaifullah, Yogyakarta – Workers and employees in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta used May Day to demand an eight-hour working day saying that workers in shopping centres are forced to work much longer than this.

Reno Nugraha, Cirebon – Scores of workers and students took to the streets in the West Java city of Cirebon on May 1 to commemorate International Labour Day, blockading the Jakarta-Cirebon northern coast road at Jl. Brigjen Darsono.

Andi Saputra, Jakarta – Hundreds of workers from the Federated Alliance of Independent Trade Unions (FGSBM) held an action in which they marched backwards towards the Department of Labour and Transmigration on Jl. Gatot Soebroto in South Jakarta.

Depok – In the lead up to the commemoration of International Labour Day or May Day, the Workers Challenge Alliance (ABM) and the Greater Jakarta Railway Workers Trade Union (SPKAJ) are planning massive actions in Jakarta on May 1.

Oleh Ahmad Arif – The global financial crisis, which began far away in the United States, appears to have also become a bugbear for workers in Indonesia. Starting with national industries that are dying because global markets are stagnating, millions of workers are faced with the threat of dismissal.

Ahmad Bayasut, Balikpapan – Despite the beads of sweat pouring down their faces, the protesters continued to enthusiastically shout “Viva Workers! Viva the Poor!”.

Neli Triana – Its 10am on Thursday May 1, and nine-year-old Nur Alfi is standing in the middle of a sea of workers at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta.

Jakarta – The minimum wage is still not enough to fulfil the daily needs of workers in the major cities of Medan, Bandung, Jakarta and Surabaya. Many workers are making up the difference by falling into debt while job security levels remain low.

Surabaya – The commemoration of International Labour Day on Thursday May 1 was marked with protest actions in several East Java cities. Workers and students also held demonstrations in Bandung, Denpasar, Palembang and Bandar Lampung.

Several different locations in Central Jakarta were rocked by demonstrations on May 1 as tens of thousands of workers commemorated May Day or International Labour Day. Protest actions took place at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout, in front of the State Palace, the House of Representatives building and Proclamation Monument.

Factory workers from the East Java Workers Challenge Alliance (ABM) held a demonstration to greet International Labour Day on May 1 in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya demanding the abolition of contract labour and outsourcing.

Erick Priberkah Hardi, Bandung – Thousands of people from worker, farmer and student organisations inundated the Gedung Sate building complex in the West Java provincial capital of Bandung today.

Thousands of workers from various companies held protest actions at different locations in Jakarta on Wednesday April 30 in the lead up to the commemoration of International Labour Day or May Day. Even larger waves of protest actions are planned for tomorrow.

B. Josie Susilo Hardianto – The lunch boxes had only just been handed out when they began to discuss the story of Mardi – a worker in Tangerang, Banten province. He had just sent his two children back to his village. “They’ve being entrusted with Mardi’s parents so they can go to school”, said Bagus, who provides support to workers.

Basic changes in the struggle by the working class before and after reformasi represent a shift from a struggle for wages and conditions to a struggle for job security.

Through massive protest actions last year, workers throughout Indonesia united and successfully defeated efforts to enact the proposed draft revisions to Law Number 13/2003 on Labour that they believed failed to side with workers. For the majority of workers however, their struggle is far from over.

Greetings to all working people,

[The following is a translation of a leaflet and poster being circulated by the Working People's Association (Perhimpunan Rakyat Pekerja, PRP) as part of a campaign by radical Indonesian trade unions to socialise May Day.]

Jakarta – Based on data from the Metro Jaya regional police Traffic Management Centre (TMC) website, Jakarta and surrounding areas will be inundated by some 13 different protest actions today, Thursday April 17.

Iwan Setiyawan, Jakarta – Workers and employees in Indonesia are still not free to associate. This can be seen from the small number of trade unions in the workplace, that is around 5.8 percent out of a total of 189,000 companies in Indonesia.