Report: The re-emergence of the labour movement in Indonesia: opportunities and challenges

Abstract

society – a concept captured during the elections by the colloquial phrase ‘dari pabrik ke publik’ (‘from factory to public’). These efforts involved sending the unions’ cadres, mostly union officials , to run as regional members of parliament; and by supporting a particular candidate for president . The unions’ strategies for winning votes from their members also provided the opportunity to educate workers on their political rights and opportunity to contribute to the country’s development and positive change. The unions and members believed that by joining parliament, they could become more effectively involved in changing the country’s policies and regulations, to ensure they are fair to workers and all Indonesia’s population in general. In the legislative elections, these efforts were well supported in that the majority of the unions’ officials and members were supportive or participated directly. The initiative to participate so directly in the elections in fact came largely from below; involving members at the grass-root level. In addition, several individuals and activist groups from outside the union joined the efforts, including academics from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, and labour and peasant NGOs, including the Trade Union Rights Centre (a labour service NGO based in Jakarta) and Omah Tani (a peasants’ group based in Batang, Central Java); and these individuals and groups were able to undertake activities that could not be done by the union itself. These activities included training workers on the processes of voting, election monitoring, and political campaign strategies. These collaborative efforts between the unions, academics and NGOs were successful; following three months of effort, the FSPMI managed to win two seats for its legislative members, from the important industrial regency of Bekasi, West Java. This achievement was significant not only for the FSPMI, but for Indonesia’s labour movement in general; as it was the first time that a union had successfully obtained seats for its candidates in parliament through coordinated efforts between the union and its supporters, rather than through the candidate ’s individual efforts. In the presidential elections, however, the union’s approach was very different. The decision to support a particular candidate for president came from the union’s most senior leader, with little if any consultation with other union leaders, let alone with ordinary members, who were simply expected to obey their leader’s decision . There were reports that the FSPMI leaders undermined members’ concerns; and other reports that many union officials had different opinions from their leader, and held concerns about his decision (see Tjandra, 2014, also Systematic involvement of organised workers in politics in a developing country like Indonesia is important for helping to understand broader political and social change INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 20 Volume 22 Issue 2 2015 I t has been argued that there are two key features which differentiate Indonesia’s contemporary institutional landscape, in structural terms, from that of many countries in Western Europe a century ago: first, the absence of a social democratic movement and strong organised working class which can influence politics; and second, the relative deficiency of the rule of law (Aspinall, 2013). Thus, any manifestation of a systematic involvement of organised workers in politics in a developing country like Indonesia, and any effort by organised workers to uphold the rule of law, in particular through the enforcement of labour law, is very important for helping to understand the broader political and social change occurring in the country, as well as the opportunities and challenges which arise from these efforts. The labour movement, in the broader sense of the collective organisation of working people campaigning for their interests – specifically, for better treatment from their employers and government through the implementation of labour related legislation – is not without precedent in Indonesia (Tjandra, 2015). Yet only after the Reformasi has the labour movement, particularly through the Action Committee for Social Security Reforms (Komite Aksi Jaminan Sosial, the KAJS), been able to undertake strong rights-related activities involving organised workers and their supporters (intellectuals, NGOs, and some sections of government), in order to represent the interests of the working class (Tjandra, 2014). The KAJS, with the Indonesian Metal-Workers Union Federation (Federasi Serikat Pekerja Metal Indonesia, the FSPMI) as its backbone organisation , is...