JAKARTA: Deputy Governor of Jakarta Ahmad Riza Patria is considering a request made by workers to the Jakarta provincial government to appeal against the State Administrative Court’s (PUTN’s) verdict scrapping a provincial minimum wage hike.
“What (the workers) have conveyed will get our attention and consideration,” he assured.
The Jakarta government has set July 29, 2022, as the deadline for deciding on whether to appeal against the verdict or accept it, he informed.
Hundreds of workers staged a rally outside Jakarta City Hall on Wednesday to express support for Governor Anies Baswedan’s plan to appeal the PUTN verdict.
Earlier this year, the Indonesian Businessmen Association (Apindo) had filed a lawsuit with the State Administrative Court (PTUN) against the Jakarta governor’s decision to raise the 2022 provincial minimum wage by 5.1 percent to Rp4,641,854 per month.
While giving its verdict, the PUTN declared the governor’s decision on the wage hike invalid.
Chief of the Jakarta chapter of the Confederation of Indonesian Labour Union (KSP), Winarso, said the KSP has rejected the PUTN verdict for several reasons. One of them is that the verdict has been issued following the revision of Jakarta Governor’s Decision No. 1517 concerning 2022 minimum wages, which came into force for seven months.
Thus, it will be impossible to reduce the wages of workers who have worked for less than one year, he added.
He said he feared that the verdict will spark a horizontal conflict between employers and employees.
“As long as there is no appellate court verdict, the old wage remains valid. The PUTN’s verdict has no legal binding force,” he added.
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