Towards structural Social Dialogue in Indonesia

On Tuesday 10 March, during the state visit of the Dutch king and queen to Indonesia, a ceremonial meeting took place from 16:00 to 17:00 hours regarding the social dialogue programme of DECP and CNV International in Indonesia.

During this meeting a letter of intent about structural embedding of social dialogue in Indonesia was signed by the chairpersons of CNV International Anneke Westerlaken, VNO-NCW / DECP Hans de Boer, APINDO Mr. Hariyadi and KSBSI Ms. Elly Rosita. After signing this declaration, 16 representatives of the Indonesian employers' organisation APINDO and the trade union KSBSI were awarded a diploma (certificate) after a three-year training programme of DECP and CNV in the field of social dialogue.

Hans de Boer, chairman of the Dutch employers' umbrella organisation VNO-NCW: ‘Indonesia is facing major economic, demographic and technological challenges. An important momentum for employers and unions to make their voices heard together. We support this process with the Social Dialogue Indonesia programme’. Anneke Westerlaken, chairwoman of CNV International, adds: ‘The enthusiasm and determination in their eyes ensures that we have a lot of confidence in the structural embedding of social dialogue in Indonesia. Today we celebrate the steps we have taken in recent years as unions and employers. We also look ahead: how do we ensure that local partners become independent in applying the social dialogue methodologies?’

Both employers' organisation APINDO and union partner KSBSI agree that this is necessary. ‘In times where the government tends to take on everything that will have a negative impact on young people and future generations, it is up to social partners to jointly seek solutions,‘ says Westerlaken.