Workers strike for fair holiday allowance<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Wood and furniture company PT Wintrad Jaya
\nrejected on Friday its workers' demand for proportional holiday
\nallowances according to their length of employment, and decided
\nto grant an allowance equivalent to each worker's one-month
\nsalary.<\/p>\n
The management said the company wouldn't allow the workers to
\nresume their duties until they discontinued the demand and are
\nready to accept the allowance offered.<\/p>\n
The dispute began on Wednesday as approximately 1,000 workers
\nstaged a protest in front of the company's factory on Jl.
\nPenggilingan in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The workers demanded the company give them holiday allowances
\nin proportion with their length of service, citing that workers
\nwho have been employed by the company for between one and three
\nyears should receive a one-month-salary allowance, those employed
\nfor periods between three and six years should recieve a two-
\nmonth-salary allowance, and so forth.<\/p>\n
Workers at the company each receive a monthly wage of Rp
\n344,000 (US$36) regardless of their length of service.<\/p>\n
But the protest turned violent on Thursday as the company
\ndistributed leaflets stating that it would only pay the
\none-month-salary holiday allowance for all workers, due to the
\neconomic crisis. The workers reacted angrily, vandalizing the
\ncompany's office.<\/p>\n
All windows of the management office were shattered as the
\nworkers pelted them with stones. Later on Thursday evening the
\nworkers also vandalized, and then set fire, to a Daihatsu Taft
\nparked in the company compound.<\/p>\n
It is not certain whether the car was the property of the
\ncompany.<\/p>\n
As of Friday, the situation in the company was calm despite
\nthe workers returning to continue their protest in the morning.
\nDozens of police officers provided tight security.<\/p>\n
The workers renewed their call for the proportional
\nallowances, but management insisted that they could not meet the
\ndemand.<\/p>\n
\"Both sides failed to reach an agreement, therefore, the
\nworkers said that they would continue their protest until their
\ndemands are met,\" Sutrisno, a security officer of the company,
\nexplained.<\/p>\n
The protest takes place only two weeks before Christmas and
\nthe Idul Fitri celebration, which will fall on Dec. 25 and Dec.
\n27 respectively.<\/p>\n
PT Wintrad Jaya, an export based-furniture company, has
\noperated since 1985 and employs 1,300 workers. (asa)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/workers-strike-for-fair-holiday-allowance-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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