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Semarang, C Java (ANTARA News) - Local trade unions have asked the Central Java governor to revise 2008 regency/city basic wages (UMK) following the 28.7 percent fuel oil price hikes.

Secretary General of the Independent Trade Unions Federation (FSBI), Central Java chapter, Fajar E.I.B. Utomo, said unless the 2008 UMK has been revised, the fate of workers in the province would become worse.

"The fuel oil price hikes had increased the people`s necessaries which has also raised the inflation rate. Under these circumstances, wages are no longer adequate for the workers to meet the basic needs of the workers and their families for a month," he said.

Giving an example, he said that to enable to live a normal life in Semarang city an income of at least Rp750,000 a month is needed, while the 2008 UMR in the Central Java provincial capital has been set only at Rp 715,700. Therefore, to enable to live a normal life, the UMK needs to be revised according to the current living cost.

"We have proposed a 30 percent increase in this year`s UMK, which would be further discussed with other local trade unions in the province, before it is submitted to the Central Java governor. This revision has become very urgent to prevent a worsening of the suffering of the workers," he said.

In the meantime, deputy head of the Central Java Manpower and Transmigration Agency Surobiyanto said that it would be impossible to revise this year`s UMK, as it can be done only once a year.

This is a regional administration policy and therefore cannot be done in the current year although prices have gone up. "An increase in wages is up to the employers, but revising the prevailing UMK would be impossible," he pointed out.

The fuel oil price hikes, he added, did not adversely affect the workers in general, but everybody as well, including businesses now totalling 16,000. Therefore everybody, including workers and businesspeople needs to cut back on their spendings to prevent a worsening of their condition.

The local manpower and transmigration agency will see that there is no mass dismissals, as this would only increase unemployment. "The workers, through their trade unions, could always hold peaceful wage increase negotiations with their employers,"he said.

Source