Pressure on for electronics producers

JAKARTA. The electronics sector is unlikely to feel any respite this year amid pressure to do another round of mass retrenchments as consumers continue to reduce their spending to cope with the impact of the country’s slowing economy. 

A trade union under the Confederation of Indonesian Workers Unions (KSPI) said more companies planned to lay off workers in the near future. 

KSPI chairman Said Iqbal said several plants, including those under the Panasonic and Toshiba brands, had recently announced downsizing plans. 

“Following the laying off of 600 workers at its plant in Pasuruan [East Java] early January, PT Panasonic Lighting Indonesia plans to cut 900 more jobs at its Cikarang plant [in West Java] this month,” Said told reporters here on Tuesday. 

“PT Toshiba Consumer Products Indonesia reportedly plans to axe 900 jobs at its Cikarang plant in early April,” he added. 

When contacted by The Jakarta Post, a Panasonic executive said the company’s top management would soon clarify the matter. 

Separately, a PT Toshiba Consumer Products Indonesia executive who declined to be named confirmed the plan, but said 360 jobs would be cut, not 900 as claimed by the KSPI. 

He added that the company had also terminated 1,000 workers’ contracts last year following a drop in its production to 30,000 units per year from its plant capacity of 350,000 units. 

He went on to say that in April, the company would change its name as it had been acquired by a Chinese television maker. 

“We’ll keep producing Toshiba TVs, but we remain open to the possibility of producing other electronic devices and therefore may need more workers in the near future,” he said. 

In contrast to the KSPI’s and business players’ claim of mass layoffs, data from the Industry Ministry shows a rising trend in manpower absorption in the electronics and telematics sector, with 485,398 workers in the sectors recorded in 2013 compared to 361,727 in 2007. 

The ministry projected that the number would increase to 549,677 and 578,267 in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

The ministry’s director general overseeing the electronics sector, I Gusti Putu Suryawirawan, said his ministry was studying the matter. 

The KSPI head said the government needed to keep abreast of layoff plans to decide what steps to take. 

“Bureaucracy is complicated, which means news about layoffs doesn’t reach the ministry fast enough. It usually gets the data only after three months,” he said. 

Real data provision has been a classic problem for years in the archipelago, with different institutions coming up with different figures. The KSPI claims that more than 50,000 workers lost their jobs last year. (rbk)