1,000 workers strike over overtime pay

TANGERANG (JP): At least 1,000 workers of transportation firm PT Mandira Erajasa Wahana went on strike on Thursday, demanding payment of their unpaid overtime fees and reemployment of their dismissed colleagues.

The workers of the firm, a subsidiary of national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia, first struck on Wednesday night.

They have demanded that the company pay their outstanding overtime fees from 1996 to 1998 in cash this month.

The protesters, grouped in Mandira's Workers and Drivers Communication Forum, also asked the company to reemploy their workmates who had been arbitrarily suspended and dismissed by the employers.

"We have discussed with company management since June, but no satisfactory solution has been reached," the forum's chairman, Rudi Santosa Agus, said.

They also urged the company to return fees collected monthly for the Indonesian Civil Servants Corps (Korpri) in the period to them.

In the strike, the workers are also demanding that the company executives, including general affairs manager A. Simanjuntak, accounts and finance manager Amrul Arief and transportation expert staffer Henki W. Wibowo, resign for their wrongdoings.

Despite the strike, the company, which provides transportation services for Garuda crew members, still managed to maintain its services without disturbing flight schedules, Agus said.

He said that the workers had informed Garuda two days earlier that they would launch the demonstration. He had also suggested the airline crew take taxis to go home.

Garuda Indonesia's general manager at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, N.S. Wandy Hadi, also confirmed that the strike did not disturb flight schedules.

Meanwhile, PT Mandira executives could not be reached for comment on Thursday since they were still discussing the demands with the workers' lawyer, P. Nainggolan. (41/jun)