WAJIB E-TOLL - The implementation of e-payment systems at tollgates has met resistance from worker unions, as the system will affect some 20,000 workers, half of whom are in Jakarta, who stand to lose their jobs.
Indonesian Workers Union Association (Aspek) and the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Union (KSPI) said on Thursday that they rejected the implementation of unmanned automatic-payment tollgates.
KSPI chairman Said Iqbal said as state-owned companies, toll road operators should prioritize creating jobs instead of proceeding with the automation, adding that the country was not prepared for full automation with high unemployment.
“Each gate [around the country] employs five people for three shifts every day, if all of the gates are automated, they are all going to lose their job,” the chairman said on Thursday.
By Oct. 31, all tollgates will go cashless, while in Jakarta the system has been implemented gradually since Tuesday.
Aspek president Mirah Sumirat said automation would not significantly increase efficiency because the main cause of traffic congestion was the volume of vehicles, location between toll exits and the arterial road, as well as the number of big vehicles.
“Operators can proceed transactions at the rate of three to four seconds per vehicle, so it has nothing to do with time efficiency,” she said.
State-owned toll operator Jasa Marga president director Desi Arryani reportedly said her company would not layoff the toll road operators and would instead move them to other working units.
Said, however, said “Layoffs are just a matter of time.”
