Greater Freedom to Organise Also Means More Opportunity For Division

By Endang Rokhani

The collapse of the Suharto regime in 1998 led to the creation of much greater democratic space in many areas of society. Labour unions were among the groups that immediately benefited from the less repressive approach.

Workers quickly took advantage of their newly-recognised right to organise, and by 2005 there were 86 union peak bodies registered with the Department of Manpower, as well as tens of thousands of local and industrial unions. Not all these new unions are effective in the struggle for workers' rights, but their presence has certainly created a more dynamic labour movement.

One side effect of the proliferation of new unions is inter-union conflict. There is conflict over leadership, ideology and strategy between unions from the Suharto era and the newly-formed unions, which are often more confrontational in their approach to employers. There is also conflict between the new unions themselves, especially when they are competing for members within the same workplace.

(Inside Indonesia; no. 86, April-June 2006)