The Politics of Wages and Indonesia’s Trade Unions

Abstract

On 1 April 2017, 13 trade unions, having formed a coalition, signed a “Political Contract” with two candidates in the Jakarta gubernorial elections1. These 13 unions then gave their support to Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno, candidates nominated by the Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) and Gerindra, the party headed by the 2014 Presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto. These unions included the Konfederasi Serikat Pekerja Indonesia (KSPI), Federasi Serikat Pekerja Metal Indonesia (FSPMI), dan Serikat Pekerja Nasional (SPN),2 among others. The KSPI and FSPMI leaderships had been supporting the Gerindra-PKS coalition since the 2014 Presidential elections. Between 2010 and 2013, the KSPI and FPSMI had been the vanguard of a series of annual campaigns for increases in the minimum wage and an ending of the widespread use of labour hire (called ‘outsourcing’).