Sustainable and responsible business practices

Pathways to enhancing industrial relations in Indonesia

Attended by around 50 tripartite participants, the Forum presented results of the 7th Regional Tripartite Industrial Relations (IR) Seminar, “Promoting Social Dialogue within Enterprises”, held in Chiba, Japan, last September, highlighting the current industrial relations in the ASEAN region. One of the key results highlighted was the importance of the bipartite cooperation at the enterprise level as ways to support harmonious industrial relations within enterprises.

News | Jakarta, Indonesia | 29 November 2016
Hayani Rumondang, the Director-General for Industrial Relations of the Ministry of Manpower
“This Industrial Relations Forum plays an important role in promoting social dialogue among key labour actors of the country. Through social dialogue we could build trust and strengthen communications among us. Therefore, I hope that the results of this Forum could be used as the basis for the development and realization of sound industrial relations in Indonesia,” said Hayani Rumondang, the Director-General for Industrial Relations of the Ministry of Manpower when opening the Forum which was held on 16 November in Jakarta.

Attended by around 50 tripartite participants, the Forum presented results of the 7th Regional Tripartite Industrial Relations (IR) Seminar, “Promoting Social Dialogue within Enterprises”, held in Chiba, Japan, last September, highlighting the current industrial relations in the ASEAN region. One of the key results highlighted was the importance of the bipartite cooperation at the enterprise level as ways to support harmonious industrial relations within enterprises.

An interactive discussion on the role of the bipartite cooperation presented tripartite resource persons.
During the interactive discussion about the crucial role of the bipartite cooperation at the workplace or also known as Lembaga Kerjasama Bipartit in Bahasa Indonesia, Siti Junaedah, Director for Industrial Relations Cooperation of the Ministry of Manpower, emphasized the importance of fair communications and negotiations between employers and employees at the workplace level.

“Therefore, we have conducted some series of training of trainers, particularly for trade union activists, so that they could further train their own members about how to do fair negotiation based on a mutual trust at the workplace. In addition, the Ministry of Manpower have also developed and disseminated communications tools on bipartite cooperation, aiming to support harmonious industrial relations in the country,” she explained.

This Forum plays an important role in promoting social dialogue among key labour actors of the country. Through social dialogue we could build trust and strengthen communications among us. Therefore, I hope that the results of this Forum could be used as the basis for the development and realization of sound industrial relations in Indonesia."

Haiyani Rumondang
Both representatives from workers’ and employers’ organizations agreed during the discussion that both parties had to develop transparent communications and to build trust between one another. “From the Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo), we hope that workers would open more dialogue instead of doing the strikes on the street,” said Myra Hanartani from Apindo; while Agus R. Toniman, National Council of KSPI, added,”We need to build better communications at the enterprise level where we can convey the needs of workers.”

Interactive sessions in the Forum included the learning session from the Labour Expert System of Japan and its practical application to support the industrial relations needs of Indonesia. Other issues covered included employee-employer cooperation for greener, safer and more productive workplaces in the Philippines and model cases from Viet Nam about generating more & better jobs through socially responsible labour and business practices.

Representatives of companies shared their experiences in promoting bipartite cooperation
National experiences were shared by representatives of companies such as HM Sampoerna Tbk, Indonesia Business Council for Sustainable Development (IBCSD) and PT Toyota Motor. They shared their workplace programmes that promote strong and mutual bipartite cooperation at the enterprise level.

Matheus Sikardianto from HM Sampoerna, for example, emphasized a personal approach to his employees who were mostly women with low level educational level; meanwhile, Budi Santosa from IBCSD said that the company had placed openness and transparency to strengthen industrial relations at the workplace.

“Personal approach is more suitable for our employees who are majority mothers and housewives. They do not care about data and statistic, but they care about maintaining their job security and how they can support their families,” said Matheus. Meanwhile, using a different approach, Budi said “We discuss about tax amnesty openly or we invite an employment analyst, for example, to discuss about future impacts, if any, from the result of the US election. Our employees need to know the reality so that we can support one another.”