Independen --- For the past nearly six years Agus had worked for a forwarding company specializing in transportation and logistics. He was hired on contract basis.
The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic impacts not only the health sector, but also the economy. The company where Agus worked did not escape unscathed.
The company decided to streamline, a move that bore an impact on the employees. Some were transferred, some were suspended, while others were laid off. Agus was among the ones who were suspended.
Citing inability to pay salary, the company decided that Agus would be suspended starting early April, and paid 50 percent of his regular salary.
“That was a substantial pay [cut] for the employees, especially those who were suspended like me. I can’t imagine how it was for those who were laid off. In this time of the pandemic, it is difficult to get a job,” Agus said.
Agus is married with a seven-year-old child. He decided to cut down on expenses. His financial situation was made worse by the fact that since he was suspended he had not been able to pay rent.
“A relative offered me a loan to pay for our daily needs. We live in a rented house. While under suspension, I have owed people money, and I haven’t even been able to pay rent,” Agus said.
COVID-19 pandemic had a tremendous impact on the working class, confirmed Transfactory Labor Federation (FBLP) chair Jumisih.
Most of the affected workers were breadwinners of the family. The pandemic had sent their life into disarray.
“There has been no preparation, no one could predict that there would be COVID-19 pandemic,” Jumisih said.
Sedane labor research institute identified the impacts suffered by workers in their monitoring points in a number of industrial areas in Jakarta, Banten and West Java.
“COVID-19 pandemic had worsened the situation. It lends strong legitimacy to laying off employees. The situation was further aggravated this year. The number [of layoffs] is significant, twice that of the previous years,” said the institute’s Syarif Arifin.
The impact of the pandemic on the working class was also reported by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) in their survey, which stated that some 29 million Indonesians had been laid off during the pandemic. A similar figure was reported by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce.
The World Bank stated that 45 percent of Indonesians, or 115 million, were likely to become impoverished. Economist Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara of the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF) believed that the number reflects the population with high likelihood of dropping below poverty line due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as was reported by Kontan.co.id on May 4.
Condition of the Working Class
What are the situations of the working class during the COVID-19 pandemic?
During the pandemic, some workers were suspended, laid off without any severance package, or laid off with severance package. Still others are still working as usual, as reported by Syarif Arifin of Sedane labor research institute.
The workers are for the most part their families’ breadwinners. They are financially responsible not only for themselves. Even the single ones are supporting their families, usually their parents or siblings.
Chair of Transfactory Labor Federation (FBLP) Jumisih also said that the impact of the pandemic was felt in other sectors.
Workers from out of town who were employed in industrial areas needed accommodation. They usually rented a room. But as they could no longer afford the rent, single workers resorted to other options. “Since they could not afford to pay for their own room, they decided to live together. A room may be occupied by as many as four people.”
Married workers were also faced with other welfare issues, including food supply.
Parents with school-age children had to spend more on their education during pandemic. House schooling added to the household power and internet bills. Sedane noted that on average the workers had to factor in additional expenses that they had not previously accounted for.
On the one hand the workers had made efforts to cut down on expenses but they were also more likely to fall into debts due to the additional expenses.
“They could be indebted to their friends, co-workers, or loanshark. Loansharks are obviously the worst alternative,” Jumisih said.
Laid-off workers, on the other hand, had tried to survive by switching to other jobs.
“Factory workers switched to jobs in the clothing business. But these businesses did not survive for long because orders were plummeting. So some turned to selling things. At the market. They just try to sell anything they can,¨ Jumisih said.
Productivity and health protocols
COVID-19 has required certain behavioral adjustments from the people. The public had been asked by President Joko Widodo to conduct their activities from home, be it working, studying, even worship, as was announced on the Republic of Indonesia Cabinet Secretariat release on March 15.
Shortly after, in late March the government announced public health emergency and imposed Large Scale Social Restriction (PSBB) policies. The policies restricted activities at schools, work places, and houses of worship, while taking into consideration the public need for education, productivity and religious activities.
From the perspectives of epidemiology, PSBB is effective for getting an immediate control on COVID-19 transmission, epidemiologist Laura Navila Yamani said.
In reality, however, not every worker could work from home. Some had to continue going to work because their production tools were kept at the factories.
The workers who still had to show up at work were faced with the issue of inadequate health protocols. While the protocols had been laid down in Minister of Health Terawan Agus Putranto’s memo on Protocols on Prevention of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Transmission in the Work Place, their implementation had been far from optimum as reported by Transfactory Labor Federation (FBLP) chair Jumisih. Her statement was confirmed by Syarif Arifin from Sedane labor study institute.
Epidemiologist Laura Navila Yamani said that work places would require specific risk management procedures. With their focus on productivity, it is imperative that they also implemented health surveillance.
Health surveillance is conducted through continuous data collecting of the workers’ health condition. The practice has proved far easier to do than monitoring the health of people outside the work places.
Laura Navila Yamani described the process of health data collection as follows:
“[The company needs to check:] are the workers symptomatic? Workers shouldn’t feel compelled to come in to work to the point where they may be dishonest about experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, or having just traveled to red zone areas, or having family members that had been tested or confirmed positive. All of this can be traced. The company must ensure that health surveillance is running accordingly. There should be solid data on the workers. Their history must be verifiable.”
The epidemiologist also emphasized the need for strict implementation of health protocols. Without such practices, new cases of COVID-19 might crop up that will compromise the health of other workers and in turn harm the company. “Let’s say a positive case is discovered in the company, that leads to fatality from COVID-19, which leads to lockdown. In the end it will be harmful to everyone,” she said.
By mid-May, a discourse on compromise, or living alongside COVID-19, emerged along with talks of loosening social restrictions. President Joko Widodo emphasized the need to adjust life to the risks of the pandemic in what was referred to as the new normal.
Houses of worships, centers of economic activities and schools were opened based on strict standards. On the other hand, to minimize the risk and impact of COVID-19 at the work place, the Minister of Health issued a decision on Guideline for the Prevention and Management of COVID-19 in Offices and Industrial Plants in Support of Business Sustainability During the Pandemic.
COVID-19 Mitigation Acceleration Task Force or the National Task Force had also issued a memo on Management of Work Hours During Adaptation of New Practices toward Productive and COVID-19 Safe Society in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi (Jabodetabek)” dated June 14, 2020.
The goal of the new normal was to maintain productivity while keeping the public safe from COVID-19 during the pandemic. The new normal was internalized as adaptation of new practices, which were geared to allowing the community to work, study and engage in various productive activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a statement by the Ministry of Health Directorate for Health Promotion and Community Empowerment on June 19.
As activities resumed in various work places during the new normal phase, such work places began to emerge as the source of new clusters of COVID-19 infection, as reported by Tribunnews.com on June 27.
The work place clusters, Laura reminded, was an indication that the new normal or adaptation of new practices should not have led the public to let down their vigilance. The risk of COVID-19 infection had not gone away, and in fact was further complicated by findings of the latest study that showed that the virus might be transmitted by air.
“Risk of transmission is more massive in enclosed spaces with poor air circulation, and made worse by poor sanitation,” Laura explained.
Psychological Impact
The impact of COVID-19 affects almost all aspects of life. While the economy is reeling from the pandemic, people continue to need basic necessities. The conflict of this situation may lead to psychological impact.
“It is an instinct for us humans to survive and engage in activities that support survivability,” said Aully Grashinta, professor of psychology at Universitas Pancasila.
As their income continued to dwindle, people are also faced with the distressing conditions brought on by COVID-19 pandemic. This in turn may create a wide scale psychological pressure.
While previously people could engage in a lot of outdoor activities, the pandemic had forced them to spend more time indoors. This had increased the potentials for domestic conflict.
Aully Grashinta considered the condition brought on by the pandemic as serious and critical. “Such condition may lead to anxiety, stress and even depression. It may even give rise to psychosomatic symptoms.”
Psychological condition may in turn affect a person’s physical health. It is then necessary to develop “resilience in these times of crisis. People with good resilience will make the effort to problem solve.”
This is the situation faced by the working class. As they are physically and mentally struggling in the face of the pandemic, their situation is very much like that of scattered dandelions.
“Flying off hither and thither to ensure their survival and that of their family,” said Jumisih
*This article was published in Bahasa at satuharapan.com in September 2020
Author: Ignatius Dwiyana / D02
