Migrant, garment workers and social security - Indonesia in 2019

Yusi Candi is a migrant worker who worked in Saudi Arabia. She was struck by disaster while working abroad but now her condition has improved. Currently Yusi works as an honorary teacher in a kindergarten in Karawang district, where she previously had worked as a migrant worker. Yusi didn’t not know all of her rights and obligations as a migrant worker until she had an accident. In Indonesia she was assisted by SPMI and she learned why for prospective migrant workers it is important to be recruited through legal channels. She now passes on the information to other migrant workers , whom plan to go working abroad.Yusi also played an active role in her area helping with the handling of cases of abused migrant workers for SPMI. She’s also thinking of becoming an organizer for SPMI in her living area, aside from her job as a teacher. That way Yusi hopes she can contribute to the trainings of SPMI in this area, so she can provide a better understanding and training to migrant workers before they go abroad on how to migrate in a legal way, and what are the legal rights of Indonesian migrant workers going abroad. Because in Yusi’s living area there are still many illegal departures.

Political, economic and social context
Presidential elections were held on 17 April 2019. Incumbent president Joko Widodo won 55,5 % of all votes, while his opponent Prabowo Subianto lost the election with 44,5% of the votes. However, as in 2014, Subianto was not ready to accept the result and petitioned the Constitutional Court to cancel the results of the election, bringing fraud allegations against Widodo. This created a lot of political tension, with protesters rioting in the streets of Jakarta. In the end the Court ruled against the petition of electoral fraud and upheld Widodo’s victory. In October President Widodo surprisingly appointed Subianto as Defense Minister in his new government. The new cabinet introduced a draconian package of economic reforms, also known as the ‘OMNIBUS – law’. The Indonesian government says the goal of the package is to create jobs and to increase competitiveness through simplification of existing laws, making it easier for businesses to invest. However, partner organization KSBSI says that the ‘OMNIBUS – law’  (which is actually a cluster of 74 different laws, divided over 11 policy areas) will substantially remove the existing protection mechanisms for workers that have been created over a period of 20 years, not in the least the Labour Law of 2003 and the Law concerning Trade Unions of 2000. Together with two other trade union confederations KSPI and KSPSI, KSBSI has reactivated the union platform MPBI, to lobby against the enactment of the OMNIBUS – law.

Minimum wages, wage scale structure and social security
One of the dangers of the OMNIBUS Law proposal is that the concept of (minimum) wage calculation might change drastically by the idea to put in place an hourly wage system instead of the current monthly minimum wage. There would be no longer national and district-level minimum wage boards either. KSBSI has organized several workshops in 10 provinces on minimum wage and on the wage scale structure. While the wage scale structure is compulsory now, most companies – even the big ones – have not yet registered their wage scale structure in the local labour department. KSBSI has been permanently lobbying the district labour departments to implement the regulation on wage scale structure. KSBSI did also draft a position paper on wage policies, wage scale structure and wage protection.
Every year more Indonesian workers and their families get access to the health insurance and to different labour insurance schemes. 2019 saw an increase in the benefits of death insurance and working accident insurance. There is also talk of establishing an pre-employment benefit scheme for the re-skilling of laid-off workers. KSBSI successfully contested the doubling of the workers’ premium to the health insurance, which would have made health care unaffordable for most informal workers and for workers whom have to support their families. The Supreme Court revoked the premium hike.

Migrant workers’ protection put in place
In 2019 KSBSI and SPMI further pushed for the amendment and implementation of Law 2017/18 on the protection of migrant workers, which became Law 2019/18. Different regulations had to be enacted before practical implementation of the law could take off, such as regulation on a new Indonesian Migrant Workers Protection Agency, on new procedures regulating the placement of migrant workers and the granting of licenses to placement companies (the former recruitment agencies). The most profound changes were the fact that placement, recruitment and protection of migrant workers have now become a responsibility of the state, the one-stop-integrated services for migrant workers at any level of governance and the reintegration of migrant workers in the national social security system.
In 2019 the advocacy strategies of KSBSI and SPMI concerning the promotion of the BPJS social security system and the new migrant workers’ protection law were under review in the mid-term evaluation of the WSM – program. In June 2019 both KSBSI and SPMI held their congresses and renewed their executive boards

Main results of the program in 2019
Minimum wage and wage scale structure: 1.117.493 staff and members of KSBSI (of which 43 % women and 48% young people) were involved in awareness raising activities, training and advocacy actions to inform the workers and to give advocacy on the system to set the annual minimum wage, the level of the minimum wage and the implementation of the new wage scale structure.
Garment workers: GARTEKS, the garment federation of KSBSI, has organized and raised the capacity on labour rights and the Freedom of Association Protocol in the garment sector for 2.626 garment workers (of which 74% women and 73% young people). This included legal assistance and grievance handling. Last year GARTEKS was able to recruit almost 4.000 additional members. Migrant workers: SPMI reached out to 1.377 people (of which 66% women and 61% young people) by raising the capacity of SPMI trainers to assist the migrant workers and by giving shelter to migrant workers whose rights have been violated by their employers.
Social security:73.040 staff and members of KSBSI (of which 34% women and 53% young people) were given training on the Indonesian health insurance system, the social security for workers (working accident scheme, death insurance, pension) and the state of affairs with regards to the concrete implementation of these different schemes by the companies and by the Indonesian government.
Joint advocacy: Through training and advocacy actions KSBSI and SPMI involved 2.549 migrant workers and politicians (of which 49% women and 49% young people) in their efforts to explain the Indonesian Migrant Workers’ Act (Law 2017/n°18) and to negotiate its implementation through national and local regulations for migrant workers.

IMPACT of the WSM-program in 2017-2019
Services:

• more decent job: KSBSI: 21.310 beneficiaries; GARTEKS: 59.909 beneficiaries; SPMI: 2.780 beneficiaries; 
• better social protection: KSBSI: 25.134 beneficiaries 

Advocacy actions: KSBSI on minimum wage and wage scale regulation): 2 regulations having impact on 49 million + 63 million potential beneficiaries. Indonesia Synergy on Law 2017/18 concerning the protection of migrant workers and subsequent regulations: 4,4 million potential beneficiaries.

Partner organizations in Indonesia: K-SBSI (trade union confederation), GARTEKS (garment union federation), SPMI (migrant workers’ union), Indonesia Synergy network

Budget 2019: 122.958,36 euro (DGD – cofunded program)
Donors: DGD, ACV-CSC BIE, ACV PULS

Program: 2017-2021