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| Issue No 98 |  |
01 June 2001 |
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InternationalThe Weeks of Living Dangerously
The now almost inevitable fall of Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid could have drastic consequences for the increasingly militant working class movement in that country.
During Wahid's short time in power the democratic space for the operation of free trade union movements has grown dramatically . The concern is that President Wahid will be replaced by a more authoritarian style possibly influenced by the powerful Army faction. This group will want to clamp down on the new unions as they would favour the old-model unionism, the tightly controlled state-sponsored union which was weak and unresponsive to working peoples' concerns. It would probably be a return to the Suharto-era of state run unions. Independent unions were banned, operated under other names, such as legal-aid institutes, or were just not recognised or given any legal status to represent workers. The Indonesian Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri has, unfortunately, aligned herself with the authoritarian and pro-Army groupings inside and outside parliament. Few people believe she will act warmly towards the democratic unions even though many of the key players in the new unions were close to her father....the founder of Indonesia. Huge strikes are threatend throughout Indonesia over the next few weeks as the new democratic unions flex their muscles to protect some of the small industrial and legislative gains they have made under Wahid. For the last three days unskilled labourers throughout Indonesia have been holding protest rallies and strikes to show their anger at an attempt by Indonesian politicians to roll back hard-won severance pay rights. The union leaderships - who often bicker among themselves - have come together on this issue and warned the parliamentarians that if they try to revoke this right long mass strikes will start from the middle of June. One of the issues in dispute in the five month long Shangri-La Hotel dispute - which has received a lot of international attention and support - is the right to decent severance pay for all those workers who have been struggling against this company. The Shangri-La hotel dispute has become an international symbol of the new struggles by working people in Indonesia for decent wages and conditions. Indonesian disputes can be very ugly with many documented accounts of employers bringing in thugs to threaten, standover or even kill union activists. The employers have also been able to use a corrupted police and judicial system to beat workers who are brave enough to stand up to their thugs. However since the collapse of the Suharto-regime the bosses have not always had it their own way. Wahid has introduced a whole raft of pro-worker laws which have improved pay and conditions and allowed workers to self-organise to raise their demands. The Indonesian working class has not held back. They have eagerly organised and campaigned in sometimes flamboyant and anarchic styles. President Wahid has also recognised the problem of corruption in the police and judicial system and has started to fight it - and started to reform it...but as yet it still has a long way to go. Whether Mr Wahid will have a chance to complete these reforms is now in doubt.
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   Interview: Balancing the BooksOpposition Finance spokesman Lindsay Tanner on bringing a Labor agenda to managing the nation�s finances. Compo: Undampened SpiritsDespite atrocious weather, building workers took to the streets this work over the carnage in their workplace. Mark Hebblewhite was there. Unions: Giving BloodLocal government workers are mounting a campaign to have leave to give blood donations recognised in their award. Women: A Checklist for Women Voters With a mountain of demands on Australian working women, the biggest question could well be which is the biggest? History: May Day MeditationMay Day has been and gone, but we thought Peter Linebaugh�s take on its meaning was worth reading on all the other days too. International: The Weeks of Living Dangerously The now almost inevitable fall of Indonesia�s President Abdurrahman Wahid could have drastic consequences for the increasingly militant working class movement in that country. Economics: No More Mr Nice GuyIn his new book, Steven Keen outlines why the public needs to know that economics is intellectually unsound. Satire: NZ to be DisbandedFollowing the successful disbanding of the armed forces the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Helen Clark, has unveiled a new bold plan to total disband the entire nation. Review: Action in the HouseWorkers Online�s Big Brother Addict argues the time has come for the contestant�s to take some industrial action.
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