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Young
ASPEK passes 100,000 member mark
Saepul Tavip, ASPEK
At founding partner FIET’s last
Congress in March 1999 its youngest affiliate - ASPEK in Indonesia – had
just 5,000 members.
At the first UNI World Congress in Berlin, ASPEK’s young delegates
proudly represented more than 100,000 members with affiliated
organisations in seven of UNI’s sectors.
"ASPEK is a mini-UNI in Asia," is the proud claim of union
President Saepul Tavip.
It’s been a remarkable success story in the service industries of post-Suharto
Indonesia.
Greater political freedom and the need for union protection in the
aftermath of the Asian crisis have contributed to this phenomenal growth.
So too has innovation by this young union.
IT and English language training was launched to improve members’ skills to head
off redundancy or at least greatly improve their chances of getting new
jobs.
A Training Institute and a Research Centre are features of new unionism in
Indonesia.
But Tavip also believes the union’s distinctive message is a key
ingredient in the story of success.
"We offer a new concept of trade unionism - constructive dialogue to
overcome every dispute," he told UNIinfo during a break at Congress.
"Workers are often scared to join a union - that’s why we are
changing the image."
Some employers take a lot of convincing - "it takes time,
sometimes" - and some are still anti-union, like Bank Panin in
Jakarta.
ASPEK’s Research Centre provides more information and data and is
already involved in a joint project with the German-based FES foundation
and research with the ILO on child labour.
ASPEK is an umbrella union with the negotiating done in company structures
in finance, commerce, postal, telecom, media, property services and
graphical. But the centre can be called in if needed.
Tavip sees the training emphasis as very important to the culture of the
union.
"Through training and skills we can upgrade the skills and strengths
of our members – because our strength is the grass roots. That is our
concept."
Other unions have been to inspect the training system.
The union is also involved in dialogue with the government and
international organisations like the ILO, IMF and World Bank as well as
the tripartite structures which involve the employers.
What’s next?
"We are leading in the concept of creating a free, democratic trade
union centre," says Tavip.
And there’s still plenty of scope for recruiting – only 15% of
Indonesian workers are currently organised.
"We hope that by next year we can reach 200,000 members."
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