15 laid-off workers injured in attempted protest march

JAKARTA (JP): Riot police injured at least 15 people yesterday when they blocked hundreds of laid-off workers attempting to march to the Jakarta International Labor Organization (ILO) office to seek help over their dismissal.

The workers were former employees of PT Tyfountex, an export- oriented textile producer based in Kartosuro, Central Java.

The incident took place at about 10 a.m. in front of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation office on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta, where the workers had spent the night after arriving from Central Java.

"Four of the injured workers are still under medical treatment at Carolus Hospital, while the remaining victims are here at our office under the care of volunteer doctors and medics," Ema Hussain of the foundation's worker division told The Jakarta Post.

Ema said the injured workers had been beaten with rattan sticks and batons by a barricade of police officers.

"One of the injured victims still could not move his head after being badly hit by a police baton," she said.

The police did not indicate whether any of their officers were injured during the incident.

Kurniawan, one of the workers, said he and 900 other former employees were here to look for help from several organizations which might be able to force their company to reemploy them.

"We want the company to reemploy us again without any prerequisites and we need an increase in our salary as stated in existing government regulations," said Kurniawan, who had worked at the firm's utility unit.

The group, mostly women, financed the trip on its own, he said.

None of PT Tyfountex's executives in Kartosuro could be reached for comment yesterday.

"Sorry, I've tried to ring them but none of them answered their phone," said Budi, a receptionist at the company.

Ema said the workers, after spending the night at her office, planned to meet executives of the ILO office located on Jl. MH Thamrin to convey their demands to the company.

A group of police officers were guarding the building early in the morning, she said.

"Four buses prepared by the workers as means to go to the ILO office mysteriously left at about 9 a.m. without our knowledge," Ema said.

She believed the bus drivers left the site after police ordered them to do so.

The workers then decided to march to the ILO office, located three kilometers away.

Dozens of police officers, however, quickly deployed into a living barrier at the foundation's gate to block their departure.

"The police started beating workers when they refused to obey orders not to leave our office compound," Ema said.

Some angry workers reportedly threw objects, such as plastic mineral water bottles, at the police in response.

Workers who had made it out of the compound were slowly forced back to the foundation's grounds.

The police, however, decided to allow the group to slowly march to the ILO office under escort at about 12 p.m.

About one kilometer into their march, the workers were met by ILO representatives who had driven to the site.

"During the meeting, the ILO representatives told the workers that they had no power to force the company to change its stance. In other words, they could not intervene in the dispute," Ema said.

Kurniawan said the workers plan to meet Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris today. (bsr)