Page 383 - e-KLIPING KETENAGAKERJAAN 13 APRIL 2020

1.2 MILLION INDONESIAN WORKERS FURLOUGHED, LAID OFF AS COVID-19 CRUSHES
Title
ECONOMY
Media Name thejakartapost.com
Pub. Date 09 April 2020
https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2020/04/09/worker-welfare-at-stake -as-covid-
Page/URL 19-wipes-out-incomes.html
Media Type Pers Online
Sentiment Positive

The COVID-19 pandemic, which is spreading like wildfire in Indonesia, has taken not
just lives but also the earnings of millions of workers, one month after the
government announced Indonesia's first two confirmed cases of the virus.

Jumari, a 61-year-old who works in a shoe factory and lives in Jakarta, has not
received his daily wages for over two weeks and will likely not receive his April
salary at all. The factory has been shut, and he and his colleagues had been told to
stay home.

His boss claimed the dismissal was "not the company's will" given that COVID-19
had affected almost all of the world's countries, Jumari said. He is now depending
on last month's wages to pay for his family's daily needs.

"The government said it would disburse funds to those who are affected by COVID-
19. What's the regulation and how do we get it so that we can have something to
eat?" he said recently. "We're not expecting anything grand."

The COVID-19 outbreak has devastated workers' hours and earnings. Businesses
have shut down factories and furloughed or laid off their employees as a result of
low demand and the call for social distancing.

Over 1.2 million workers from 74,439 companies in both the formal and informal
sectors have either been told to stay home or have been laid off as a result of the
pandemic, Manpower Ministry data showed on Tuesday.

The Confederation of Indonesian Workers' Unions (KSPI) released a statement over
the weekend saying its worries about massive layoffs had come true, Jakarta
Manpower Agency data that at least 162,416 workers in the capital city alone had
reportedly been laid off or furloughed.

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