Detik.com
- May 1, 2010
Muchus Budi
R., Solo – Hundreds of workers in the Central Java city of Solo commemorated
May Day by holding a cultural action and free speech forum, in which they rejected
the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) agreement and planned electricity rate
hikes.
The protests
on Saturday May 1, which were concentrated in front of Sriwedari Park, were
joined by hundreds of workers from the various labour organisations that exist
in Solo.
During the
action, the workers made a number of demands including better social welfare,
decent wages, freedom of association, the development of national industry and
the abolition of contract labour and outsourcing.
A
demonstration by around 1,500 workers was also held in the Boyolali area where
workers also expressed their opposition to the ACFTA agreement and planned
electricity rate hikes. (djo/djo)
[Abridged
translation by James Balowski.]
