Workers demand annual extra pay<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Over 70 workers from seven companies in Bogor
\nand Tangerang went to the Ministry of Manpower yesterday to
\nprotest against employer violations of the ministerial decree on
\nannual extra pay.<\/p>\n
The workers, under the coordination of the Social Information
\nand Legal Guidance Foundation (Sisbikum), a non-governmental
\norganization, called on the ministry to intervene on their
\nbehalf, claiming that the companies involved had rejected
\nproposals for a peaceful solution which they had made.<\/p>\n
\"Only the minister of manpower has the power to force the
\nmanagement to comply with the labor regulation,\" said
\nKhomaruddin, who works for the PT Ever Sintex garment company in
\nBogor.<\/p>\n
The 70 workers claimed to represent about 1,500 other workers
\nwho, like them, are yet to receive the compulsory extra pay. The
\nseven companies are PT Ever Sintex, PT Sungil Sejahtera in
\nCileungsi, near Bogor, and PT Sinar Ragam, PT Unindo, PT
\nTrimasakti, PT OHA Kencana and PT Tebing Artanas, all in
\nTangerang.<\/p>\n
Khomaruddin said the workers at his factory had held
\nnegotiations with the management on two occasions but to no
\navail.<\/p>\n
Under the regulations an additional one month's wages must be
\npaid to all workers a week before the major religious holidays,
\naccording to the religion of the workers.<\/p>\n
\"The management of my company did not even respond to a two-
\nday strike by workers at the factory on Wednesday and Thursday,\"
\nKhomaruddin said.<\/p>\n
Protection<\/p>\n
The ministerial decree, issued in September last year,
\nstipulates that the additional payment must be made at least
\nseven days prior to religious holidays. Christian workers are to
\nreceive the extra pay a week before Christmas and Moslems a week
\nbefore Idul Fitri holidays.<\/p>\n
The protesting workers also asked the Minister to protect them
\nagainst dismissal by their employers on the ground that they had
\ntaken part in the demonstration.<\/p>\n
\"We are also asking for a guarantee from the minister that we
\nwon't be fired after this visit to the ministry,\" said Arief, a
\nworker from PT Unindo.<\/p>\n
Director of Labor Standards Tjepy F. Aloewie said after
\nmeeting with the workers that he had telephoned PT Ever Sintex's
\npersonnel manager, Mulyana, and had asked the company to comply
\nwith the ministerial decree on pay.<\/p>\n
Aloewie said many teams had been sent to companies in Jakarta
\nand surrounding areas to monitor the implementation of the extra-
\npay decree. He promised to ask those teams to pay special
\nattention to the seven companies which employ the protesting
\nworkers, in order to force them to comply with the decree.<\/p>\n
Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief is scheduled to make a tour
\nto several companies in the Jakarta this morning to ensure
\ncompliance with the decree.<\/p>\n
Garment<\/p>\n
In a related development, four representatives of 176 laborers
\nfrom PT Duta Busana Danastri, a garment company, said yesterday
\nthat their employer had failed to honor a promise to make a
\nholiday payment equivalent to two months' wages prior to the Idul
\nFitri festival.<\/p>\n
\"The company made its promise in the presence of National
\nHuman Rights Commission members on Feb. 9. It promised to pay the
\nworkers an extra amount equivalent to two months' salary prior to
\nthe Idul Fitri festival,\" said one of the representatives,
\nrequesting anonymity.<\/p>\n
The representative said that so far the company had only paid
\nits employees Rp 101,250 (US$46), which is equivalent to one
\nmonth's salary.<\/p>\n
\"We are aware that the government wages regulation stipulates
\nthat the religious festival allowance must be equivalent to one
\nmonth's salary. But a promise is still a promise,\" She said.<\/p>\n
However, a lawyer from Sukardjo Adidjojo Thamrin and partners
\nlaw firm, which represents PT Duta Busana Danastri, said that the
\ncompany had made no such promise at the meeting between the
\ncompany's management, its workers and the rights commission's
\nrepresentatives.<\/p>\n
\"I was there at the meeting and I never heard any promise
\nbeing made by the company's officials,\" the lawyer, Achmad, told
\nThe Jakarta Post yesterday in a telephone interview.<\/p>\n
The labors went to the National Human Rights Commission for
\nthe second time on Feb. 14 to complain about their employer's
\nfailure to pay them Idul Fitri allowances that had previously
\nbeen promised.<\/p>\n
The laborers were received by Baharudin Lopa, the commission's
\nsecretary general, who urged the workers to try to settle the
\nmatter with the company by asking the management to pay one
\nmonth's salary in line with the government regulation.<\/p>\n
The workers' representative said yesterday that a number of
\nworkers now no longer work at the company because the management
\nhad removed certain production equipment as both a disguised form
\nof dismissal and to enable it to claim that it was incapable of
\nfulfilling its promise on pay.<\/p>\n
\"I know it was only a management's ploy to dismiss us without
\nseverance pay. They will say that the company is bankrupt,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Lawyer Achmad said that the equipment had been removed because
\nthe company did not have as many orders as it used to.<\/p>\n
\"The removal of the equipment is also the result of frequent
\nstrikes, which have caused the quantity and quality of the
\ncompany's products to decline,\" he said. (rms\/mas)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/workers-demand-annual-extra-pay-1447893297",
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