The government's decision to issue a Joint Decree (SKB) of 3 Ministers regarding the determination of joint leave for Eid al-Adha 1444 Hijriah, last week, is said to have had a negative impact on the textile industry in Central Java (Central Java). This is because the addition of holidays disrupts industrial productivity, causing huge losses in the textile and textile production (TPT) sector. Chairman of the Central Java (Central Java) Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo), Frans Kongi, hopes that the government can be more careful in providing joint holiday leave. Because if there are too many, it will make the textile industry suffer big losses.

"The government must pay attention to this, because we have too many domestic holidays," said Frans, Thursday (6/7/2023).

Apindo Jateng explained, if the government has set a national holiday by adding too many joint holidays, this will disrupt the production of the textile industry. Not only disrupted, even operational costs are also said to have swelled.

"Because if we include employees on joint/national leave, they have to pay double, there is overtime. This disrupts production, costs are also inflated," he explained.

Interrupted production and inflated costs, continued Apindo Central Java, disrupted competitiveness. Yet according to him, garment or textile products in Central Java have penetrated the global market.

"The effect is there [global market competition]. Fighting with other countries, if they [other countries] work more efficiently, the technology is better, they are one step ahead of us," he admitted.

Apindo Jateng also admits that many have closed their machines or chose not to carry out production rather than taking the risk of increasing production costs. As a result, many textile entrepreneurs in Central Java suffered big losses.

"How much [the loss] cannot be conveyed. But in essence lose a lot. It is not profitable, it cannot be interpreted, but generally it is a loss, it is not profitable for the business world," he said.

For your information, amidst the expansive condition of the national manufacturing sector, the textile industry is still experiencing contractions. It is even included as one of the three manufacturing sub-sectors that experienced a contraction in the June 2023 IKI survey.