Workers To Go Another Strike

Jakarta, Nov 18 (Antara) - Indonesian workers will go on a larger strike on Monday in yet another attempt to demand minimum wage hikes, chief of the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Union (KSPI) Said Iqbal said. Workers in many parts of the country, including Bogor, Bandung, Purwakarta, Bekasi, Sidoarjo, Mojokerto, Pasuruan, Surabaya, and Batam will start a series of protests targeting the offices of district heads and mayors on Monday, he said in a press statement released on Sunday. The workers` strike will force thousands of factories to halt production, he said. In Jakarta, workers will go on a week-long strike as of Monday. They will stage a rally outside the Jakarta Legislative Council (DPRD) building when the council holds its plenary session, he said. "The strike will peak on November 25-26 when all factories in industrial estates in Jakarta will halt production and thousands of workers will flock to the City Hall to press Governor Jokowi to revise the province`s minimum wage of Rp3 million (based on official decent living standards (KHL) of Rp2,767,320)," he said. He said Governor Jokowi should be ashamed of deciding a 10.9 percent rise in the province`s minimum wage, which is lower than those of Subang district (50 percent), Sidoarjo, Pasuruan and Gresik districts (36 percent), and Mojokerto district (42 percent). Minimum wage in Subang has been raised from Rp1 million to Rp1.5 million, Gresik from Rp1.7 million to Rp2.3 million, Surabaya from Rp1.7 million to Rp2.2 million, Sidoarjo, and Pasuruan from Rp1.7 million to Rp2.3 million, and Mojokerto from Rp1.7 million to Rp2.4 million.