Union centre teaches organising skills
BY MERRILYN TREASURE
SYDNEY — A new union centre in Indonesia, established with Australian trade union funds, has begun training workers in the textile, banking, hotel, tourism and teaching sectors in basic organising skills, Hemarasari Dharmabumi told unionists here on May 23.
Dharmabumi is the coordinator of the Labor Education Centre based in Bandung, west Java, which is funded by APHEDA, the aid arm of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
Many new trade unions have emerged since the overthrow of the former dictator Suharto, she told the meeting at the NSW Teachers' Federation building, but the majority of union members still belong to Suharto-era "yellow" unions and many of the new unions compete with each other for membership. She hopes the centre will help direct these unionists towards recruiting, organising the 90% of Indonesian workers still unorganised.
Dhamrabumi also said that new regional autonomy legislation, due next year, will make unions' task even more difficult. Every government in every province would decide its own minimum wage, she said.