On 5 October 2020, the Indonesian House of Representatives passed the Omnibus Bill on Job Creation, which the government argues will make the country more attractive to foreign investors and aid the economy recover from the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, unions, campaigners and investors have criticised the bill as posing a threat to hard-won labour right and environmental-protection regulations. A draft version of the bill scraps mandatory paid leave for childbirth, weddings, baptisms, bereavement, and menstruation. Overtime will be increased, and mandatory severance benefits will be decreased. Environmental protection regulation will also be reduced in scope, with only “high risk” projects required to undertake an environmental impact assessment.

On the 7th October, critics embarked up a three-day national strike. Police used water cannons and teargas to disperse protestors, arresting 23.

On 1 December 2021, it was reported that the Indonesian Constitutional Court ruled that the Omnibus Bill was unconstitutional, suspended its most harmful features, and gave the government two years to rectify the bill.

In January 2023, Indonesian unions condemned and rejected an emergency regulation issued in December 2022 by the president, in lieu of the Omnibus Law. The unions reported that the emergency regulation failed to meet union demands, and claimed that some of the provisions gave governors discretionary power to determine minimum wage.