The Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) has recorded that approximately 50,000 workers have been laid off since the beginning of 2021. The corona virus (Covid-19) pandemic is one of the causes of these layoffs. Although, not all layoffs were caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The threat of layoffs is imminent. According to KSPI data, approximately 50,000 workers have been laid off starting in early 2021," said KSPI President Said Iqbal.

Said said the garment and textile industry was one of the sectors contributing to layoffs. The declining demand from export destination countries has put emphasis on the industrial sector.

He gave an example, for the production of shoes such as Nike, Adidas, Puma with an export orientation, there was a decline in production capacity due to declining demand. It's the same with textile industries like Uniqlo or H&M.

According to him, in West Bandung, nearly 7,100 workers were laid off and in Cimahi nearly 4,000 people. Another industry affected by layoffs is a factory that produces automotive components with an export orientation.

"Let's say auto parts or car seats, because orders are down and production capacity is down, it's affected. And that has already been laid off, there are still hundreds of workers who have been laid off in automotive components. Contract employees fired. There are still new unemployed, he explained.

Other sectors affected are the ceramics, pharmaceutical, steel and mining industries. Especially in the pharmaceutical industry, layoffs occurred due to a decrease in the production of non-Covid-19 drugs. In addition, the steel industry. mining, and coal decreased.

From the data collected at KSPI from the textile garment shoe workers union that is incorporated in the SPN, in June 2021 alone there have been layoffs of 12,571 workers at 13 companies in Tangerang, Bogor, Bandung, Cimahi, and Central Java. In addition, the Indonesian ASPEK trade unions, other members of KSPI, have reported layoffs in the retail, toll, and department store sectors of nearly 8 thousand workers.

Among other things, layoffs at Giant reached 6,332 workers, Indosat 700 workers, JLJ 1,000 workers, Ibis 100 workers, Phyto Farma 350 workers, Ramayana 100 workers, G4S 100 workers, and Metropolitan Mall 50 workers.

It has also been reported in Purwakarta, hundreds of workers have been laid off in the automotive component industry and thousands of contract employees have been laid off due to not having their contracts extended at dozens of automotive and electronic component factories in the Bekasi industrial area.

Said Iqbal emphasized that until now his party has not seen any new investment that absorbs the workforce. The current condition, he said, is that there are workers who are fired and new recruits by the company. "It's as if it's an absorption of new workers. It's not," he said.

For this reason, his party considers that the omnibus law of the Job Creation Law has failed to create jobs. In fact, it makes layoffs easier to do.