Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - Indonesia will look at its minimum wage and other labour rules, the president's office said on Tuesda...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - Indonesia will look at its minimum wage and other labour rules, the president's office said on Tuesday. This comes after trade unions held protests all over the country against a recent rise in gas prices, which they say happened while wages stayed the same.
This month, President Joko Widodo raised the prices of subsidised fuel in Southeast Asia's largest economy by 30%. He did this to stop the budget for energy subsidies from growing out of control, which led workers and students all over the country to protest.
The increase in fuel prices is likely to speed up inflation, which is already at its highest level since 2015 because food prices are going up.
A statement from the presidential palace said that Heru Budi Hartono, the head of the president's office, met with workers who were protesting at the presidential palace in central Jakarta on Monday to talk about their demands.
Workers have asked the government to change the way it decides how much the minimum wage goes up each year and to change the controversial Job Creation law, Heru said in the statement, referring to a law passed in 2020 that unions said was too pro-business.
Heru said that the workers' requests will be looked at by the government on Tuesday.
Due to the effects of the pandemic on growth and inflation in 2021, the minimum wage in the country of 270 million people only went up by an average of 1.09% in 2022.
Hermanto Ahmad, secretary general of labour union KSPSI, was quoted in a statement from the palace as saying that the increase in fuel prices will cause other prices to go up as well.
Reuters asked the KSPSI for a comment, but they didn't give one.
Said Iqbal, the head of the KSPI, told Reuters on Tuesday that the group will keep protesting until the government rolls back the increase in fuel prices. The KSPI is another labour group that has been holding rallies.
