Police fire warning shots during Nike demonstration<\/p>\n
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang<\/p>\n
Police fired two warning shots into the air to disperse a rally
\nof some 1,000 former workers of PT Doson Indonesia, a company
\nthat produces shoes for Nike, in Tangerang.<\/p>\n
The workers responded to police by throwing shoes at the
\nofficers, but there was no violence, reports said.<\/p>\n
While thousands of workers took to the streets in Jakarta and
\nother cities to protest the fuel price hike, about 1,000 of the
\n6,890 former workers of PT Doson held a 20-kilometer-long march
\nto fight for their severance pay.<\/p>\n
Braving intense heat, the workers, mostly women, started
\nwalking at 9 a.m. from the company's factory on Jl. Raya Legok to
\nthe offices of the Social Affairs Agency on Jl. Windu Karya.<\/p>\n
Several protesters took turns making speeches, which caused
\nsevere traffic jams in the area. They also blocked an access road
\nto the Jakarta-Merak toll road heading to Karawaci. Motorists
\nheading to Legok and Lippo Karawaci from Jl. Imam Bonjol were
\nalso hampered by the rally.<\/p>\n
When the protesters arrived at the Jl. Teuku Umar-Jl. Imam
\nBonjol intersection at 1 p.m., police officers told them to take
\nJl. Teuku Umar. The police fired the two warning shots when the
\nworkers refused to obey them, demanding instead to use Jl. Imam
\nBonjol. Some workers then threw their shoes at the officers
\nbefore heeding their order.<\/p>\n
The protesters urged both the administration of the Tangerang
\nregency and Banten province to help settle the dispute with the
\ncompany owners over their missing severance pay. They said they
\nwere in desperate need of money, especially since life had become
\nharder without work.<\/p>\n
"We took the legal route to fight for our severance pay, but
\nthat did not settle the problem, so now we are taking the
\npolitical route," Joko Haryono, the former chairman of the
\ncompany's labor union, told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
PT Doson Indonesia, a Korean company, said it was forced to
\nclose its factory in September 2002, due to the end of its supply
\ncontract with Nike.<\/p>\n
The workers took the case to court, but no settlement has been
\nreached yet.<\/p>\n
The protesters arrived at the office of the Manpower Agency on
\nJl. Perintis Kemerdekaan at 1:30 p.m., but the office was quiet
\nso they continued onward to the office of the Social Affairs
\nAgency.<\/p>\n
Joko said that they would stay outside the office until a
\nsettlement was reached.<\/p>\n
The head of the agency, TB Mh. Chudori S, who met the workers,
\nsaid that the protesters asked him to arrange a meeting with the
\nregent.<\/p>\n
"We do not have the authority to handle this case. They came
\nto the wrong place," he told The Jakarta Post after the meeting,
\nadding that they should have gone instead to the Manpower Agency.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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