JakartaPost-Feb 17, 2023
Labor unions and worker rights activists plan to stage another nationwide protest and strikes to oppose the controversial government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) on job creation that is set to be passed into law in a House of Representatives plenary session in March. Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) chairman Said Iqbal on Thursday expressed his dismay that lawmakers of the House Legislation Body (Baleg) have endorsed the Perppu, saying that 5 million workers would take part in mass rallies and strikes in various cities. “We are preparing for large-scale protests that will begin at the end of February across 34 provinces. If this gets ignored, labor unions will consider holding a nationwide strike,” Said Iqbal told a press briefing on Thursday. The House is planning to pass the Perppu in a plenary meeting in March after the 1,117-page document secured majority support from Baleg at the end of a two-day meeting between lawmakers and the government on Wednesday evening, with all pro-government parties firmly supporting the government’s decision. It was signed by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in December 2022 to resuscitate the also controversial Jobs Law, which was declared “conditionally unconstitutional” by the Constitutional Court in 2021 because it used the unrecognized omnibus method to revise multiple laws at once and was deliberated with minimal public participation. The court ordered the government and the House to redo the law-making process within two years or it would be permanently revoked. Instead, the government issued the Perppu after it cut corners with lawmakers by enacting another law that allows the use of omnibus methods. Read more at:
