2,000 workers strike at tire plant to seek better pay

BEKASI, West Java (JP): Two thousand workers at a South Korean tire company, PT Hung-A Indonesia, went on strike Saturday to demand better pay and working conditions.

The management said the strike at the Cikarang industrial complex could cause losses of more than US$100,000.

The strike started in the morning when 700 workers from the first shift refused to enter the company's factory compound in the Hyundai industrial estate.

"We have reached an agreement between the management and the workers who staged the protest," the firm's personnel manager Kusnaeni told The Jakarta Post and Radio Republik Indonesia.

He said most of the workers' demands have been met except for the health allowances which are part of social security (Jamsostek) system.

The workers, who work in three shifts, also demanded menstruation and maternity leave, and food allowances.

They also protested what they called arbitrary dismissals, demotions or transfers. One worker said that anyone who refused to work extra hours had to work as office boys.

Kusnaeni said he did not understand why the second shift starting at 3 p.m. continued striking despite the agreement.

Workers were seen gathering and shouting outside the factory fence.

A union executive at the plant said the management's response came too late.

He said workers have held strikes demanding better wages five times since production started in 1992.

The company's export-import manager, Kim Dae Ryong, said the management plans to introduce the health allowances required under labor regulations in October.

"We are late in implementing the package because we are waiting for the company's break event point," he said.

Kim was sure the strike would run at least until Sunday.

The factory produces tires for export to European countries, Japan and South Korea. (kod)