This study analyzes the conflict between labor and employers in the rejection of the 2020 Job Creation Law (UU Cipta Kerja) using an integrative framework of Karl Marx’s and Ralf Dahrendorf’s conflict theories with Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) approach. Employing a descriptive-analytical qualitative method, the study draws on secondary data comprising official statements from three groups of actors labor unions (mainly KSPI), employers’ associations (mainly APINDO), and the government collected from credible online media between 5 October 2020 and 31 March 2023. The analysis applies Fairclough’s three dimensions: text, discursive practice, and social practice. The findings show that the conflict manifests in three distinct discursive registers: a language of resistance and rights (labor), a language of investment and economic rationality (employers), and a language of delegitimization through “hoax” labeling (government). The unequal access to discursive channels reflects insider versus outsider strategies. Through Marx’s lens, the conflict is rooted in structural class antagonism; through Dahrendorf’s lens, it is a tension over the distribution of authority. The two superimpose, explaining the conflict’s high intensity and persistence. The outcome dynamics show the conflict was institutionally regulated, yet class antagonism persisted because the underlying relations of production remained unchanged.
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