Decent Work and Economic Growth

UNESA recognises its staff's labour rights

Universitas Negeri Surabaya (UNESA) recognises the labour rights of all its staff, women and men, Indonesian and international, including freedom of association and collective bargaining, through the rules that govern their employment. UNESA's statute places the staff appointed by the Rector, and their employment rights, under the Manpower Law (Pemerintah Republik Indonesia, 2022), which gives every worker the right to form and join a trade union and lets unions conclude collective labour agreements with the employer (Republik Indonesia, 2003). UNESA's staff regulation, in force since 1 January 2025, rests on the Teachers and Lecturers Law, which gives every lecturer the freedom to associate in professional organisations (Republik Indonesia, 2005), and bases staff policy on non-discrimination and equality regardless of sex (Universitas Negeri Surabaya, 2024). UNESA's 2026 regulation on international lecturers and education staff rests on the Manpower Law and on Indonesia's ratification of the United Nations convention on migrant workers (Universitas Negeri Surabaya, 2026), which recognises the right of migrant workers to join and form trade unions without distinction as to sex or nationality (United Nations General Assembly, 1990). In 2025 and 2026 UNESA and its study programmes held memberships of national professional associations (Association of Indonesia Tourism Tertiary Education Institutions, 2025; Forum Komunikasi Pengelola Program Studi Pendidikan Jasmani Indonesia, 2025), staff representatives sat on UNESA's Board of Trustees, and education staff raised workplace concerns in UNESA's SAMBAT forum (KeceMedia UNESA, 2026).

Policy basis

Pasal 2

Pasal 1 angka 15

Pasal 75 ayat (1)

Recognizes freedom of association and collective bargaining

UNESA's statute places its staff under the labour law that guarantees freedom of association and collective bargaining. Government Regulation Number 37 of 2022, UNESA's statute, provides that staff appointed by the Rector are governed by the laws on manpower and higher education (Article 67(3)) and that their employment rights follow the Rector's rules and the laws on manpower (Article 70(3)) (Pemerintah Republik Indonesia, 2022). The Manpower Law gives every worker the right to form and become a member of a trade union (Article 104(1)), and its elucidation calls the freedom to form, join or not join a union one of the basic rights of workers; a registered union may conclude a collective labour agreement with the employer, drawn up by deliberation (Article 116) (Republik Indonesia, 2003). UNESA's staff regulation settles staff disputes by deliberation to reach consensus, with the applicable legislation as the route when no agreement is reached (Article 75) (Universitas Negeri Surabaya, 2024).

UNESA's staff regulation rests on the law that gives lecturers freedom of association. Rector's Regulation Number 37 of 2024 on UNESA staff lists the Teachers and Lecturers Law among its legal bases (Universitas Negeri Surabaya, 2024). That law gives every lecturer, in carrying out professional duties, "the freedom to associate in professional organisations or scholarly professional organisations" (Article 51(1)(g)) (Republik Indonesia, 2005).

UNESA and its programmes exercise this freedom through national professional associations, with memberships valid in 2025 and 2026. Membership certificate no. 083/C/HILDIKTIPARI/IX/2025 states that Universitas Negeri Surabaya is a member in good standing of the Association of Indonesia Tourism Tertiary Education Institutions (AITTEI) from 26 September 2025 to 31 July 2027 (Association of Indonesia Tourism Tertiary Education Institutions, 2025). Certificate no. 14/FKPPS.Penjas/TU/2025 declares UNESA's Physical Education, Health and Recreation study programme a member of the Forum Komunikasi Pengelola Program Studi (FKPPS) Pendidikan Jasmani Indonesia from 1 August 2024 to 31 July 2028 (Forum Komunikasi Pengelola Program Studi Pendidikan Jasmani Indonesia, 2025). On 14 November 2025 UNESA's vice-rector for planning, development, cooperation and information technology moderated and spoke, as UNESA's representative, at a national panel hosted by Universitas Negeri Medan with the Asosiasi Profesor Keolahragaan Indonesia (Humas UNESA, 2025).

UNESA gives its staff elected representation in its governance and a forum to raise workplace concerns. UNESA's statute reserves 8 of the 17 seats on the Board of Trustees (Majelis Wali Amanat) for staff representatives: four professors, three lecturers who are not professors, and one representative of the education staff, each with an equal vote (Articles 31(1) and 33(1)) (Pemerintah Republik Indonesia, 2022). On 12 and 13 February 2026 UNESA's Directorate for the Prevention and Handling of Strategic Issues held SAMBAT, a forum where about 50 education staff raised concerns such as disproportionate workloads, and the directorate committed to carry them to the university's policy makers (KeceMedia UNESA, 2026).

Open to all staff, including women and international staff

UNESA's staff regulation applies its rights to women and men alike. Rector's Regulation Number 37 of 2024 lists non-discrimination, justice and equality among the principles of staff policy (Article 2) and defines UNESA's merit system as managing staff without distinguishing political background, race, skin colour, religion, origin, sex, marital status, age or condition (Article 1 point 15) (Universitas Negeri Surabaya, 2024). The union right in the Manpower Law belongs to every worker (Article 104(1)), and the law gives every worker equal treatment without discrimination (Article 6) (Republik Indonesia, 2003).

UNESA employs international lecturers and education staff under rules that carry migrant workers' union rights. Rector's Regulation Number 42 of 2026, set on 3 August 2026, allows UNESA to employ foreign nationals as lecturers or education staff on work agreements that set out their working conditions, rights and obligations (Articles 1(6) and 13), bases their employment on professionalism, competence, legal certainty, accountability and non-discrimination (consideration b), and requires social security or insurance before a foreign worker starts (Article 11). Its legal bases are the Manpower Law and Law Number 6 of 2012, Indonesia's ratification of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (Universitas Negeri Surabaya, 2026). That convention recognises the right of migrant workers to take part in and join any trade union and to seek its help (Article 26), gives them the right to form associations and trade unions in the State of employment (Article 40), and guarantees these rights without distinction of any kind, including sex and nationality (Article 7) (United Nations General Assembly, 1990).