COVID-19: Jakarta's low-wage personnel hard hit by layoffs, forced unpaid leave
08 April, 2020
Mr Haekal Anshori, a worker in a tiny T-shirt printing shop, has been trying to contact his employer for days.
He was looking to get an update on his monthly salary, which is currently one week overdue. He's owed 2.5 million rupiah (US$212.50), which is a lifesaver as Jakarta is on the verge of implementing the so-called large-scale social restrictions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 30-year-old was also looking for his employer to issue a signed statement indicating that he previously been forced to take unpaid leave. Without the statement, the lender wouldn't normally allow him to restructure the loan for his motorcycle and defer payments.
The printing shop was last focusing on an order of 10,000 t-shirts for a marathon, prior to the event was postponed indefinitely because of COVID-19. Around 9,000 T-shirts for the marathon are now in the shop’s storage room, collecting dust. The shop was never paid.
“My boss told me that he is looking to get the marathon organiser to pay up. He promised that after they do, he will manage to pay me and seven other employees,” Mr Anshori told CNA.
Mr Anshori’s employer, he added, has refused to issue a signed statement for the bank.
Asking employees to take unpaid leave is actually against the Indonesian Labour Law, noted the Indonesian Labour Union. However, this practice has been rampant amid the pandemic, with low wage staff and the ones in the informal economy bearing the brunt.
Mr Andri Yansyah, chief of the Jakarta Manpower Agency told The Jakarta Globe earlier this week that 132,279 staff from 14,697 companies have been placed on forced unpaid leave.
Meanwhile, 3,348 companies reported that that they had let go 30,137 of their employees.
Mr Yansyah said the unemployment number in Jakarta continues to be more likely to increase as the agency continues to be inviting other companies to join up their laid-off workers.
MILLIONS ARE VULNERABLE
Manpower agencies across Indonesia are just keeping track of staff who are formally utilized by registered companies.
These workers’ rights are protected by the Indonesian Labour Law and labour unions would often advocate on their behalf if they're treated unfairly by their employers.
But according to the Indonesian Statistics Agency, there are a lot more than 55 million staff in the informal sector in the united states. Because they are not formally employed, they aren't protected by the Labour Law.
Mdm Julaiha, who like many Indonesians go with one name, is one particular worker.
The domestic worker has been out of work since her Taiwanese employer made a decision to leave Indonesia in mid-March.
“My employer was kind enough to pay my earnings for the whole month before he left. But that is only enough to last me for another month. I don’t know when he'll be back or whether he'll still hire me when he gets back,” Mdm Julaiha told CNA.
To create matters worse, her 20-year-old son - who still lives with her - in addition has been forced to take unpaid leave because the restaurant that employed him temporarily closed its doors on Mar 24.
The restaurant, she said, only informed her son: “Here is your March income ... Don’t come to work until further notice”.
The 47-year-old widow said because the outbreak, life has been tough and uncertain. “Prices have risen. There is absolutely no work. Even if there is work, we are discouraged from moving away from our home. All I could do is stay in the home and hope the federal government can help us,” she said.
Mdm Tanti Julianti, a janitor working at a Central Jakarta workplace, said she have been forced to settle for a significant pay cut.
“The building management said because persons have been working from home, our service is only needed twice a week to mop the floors and vacuum the carpets. Because we are doing less work, the management said they are able to pay just us half of what we are likely to get,” she said.
“Of course we don’t enjoy it. But what else can we do? It’s much better than no pay at all".
GOVERNMENT STIMULUS PACKAGE
Last week, President Joko Widodo announced a 405 trillion rupiah (US$25 billion) stimulus package to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, concentrating on healthcare spending, social safety net, tax breaks and debt restructuring for corporations and smaller businesses.
“We have prepared a social back-up to allow the grassroots to fulfil their basic needs and keep maintaining their purchasing power,” then said.
The stimulus would be channelled through existing government programmes meant to aid underprivileged Indonesians with cash and benefits.
The president announced that the number of beneficiaries for such programmes would be increased.
Around 5.6 million informal employees who lost their jobs, in addition to small business owners who lost their income as a result of the outbreak will be given a benefit for up to at least one 1 million rupiah a month for another four months.
State-owned electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara is also providing free and discounted electricity for 31 million subsidised subscribers.
But Mdm Julaiha, the domestic worker, said she had no idea how exactly to make an application for such benefits.
“I tried to apply for free electricity but I was told I was not eligible because my electricity is above the subsidised wattage of 900VA,” she said.
“I am monitoring for any announcement on how to apply for benefits and cash handout programmes. Up to now, none of my neighbours and friends have any clue.”
POTENTIAL EXODUS FROM JAKARTA
Mdm Julaiha said without work in Jakarta, she actually is trying to go back to her village in Magelang regency, Central Java.
“At least, food prices are lower in my village. My family has a farm there so we won’t have to worry about food."
However the government has discouraged persons from going back with their hometowns and villages, particularly as the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan approaches.
This past year, 23 million Indonesians travelled from cities like Jakarta to the villages as Muslims looked to spend the Eid holidays with their own families.
The federal government fears that the yearly exodus would spread the condition and instructed that all travellers be monitored and put under mandatory self-quarantine.
There are now a lot more than 2,700 COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, with more than 220 deaths.
“I don’t mind,” Mdm Julaiha said when asked if she actually is ready to be quarantined when she reaches her hometown. “In Jakarta, we are also staying at home all day long doing nothing. What’s the difference?”
The government hasn't formally barred persons from travelling but Mdm Julaiha said she plans on leaving Jakarta this week in case the federal government changes its mind.
Mdm Julianti, the janitor said she actually is also likely to leave Jakarta and return to her West Java village, 60km away from the Indonesian capital.
Meanwhile, Mr Anshori said he's staying in Jakarta at least until his boss pays him or decides to reopen the t-shirt printing shop.
“In the meantime, I am deciding on be considered a motorcycle taxi rider. At least I could earn a small amount of money by making deliveries,” said Mr Anshori, who is originally from a village in Cianjur Regency, West Java.
“But easily don’t make enough money. If the situation continues to be such as this, I might have to get back to my village.”
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