5,000 workers face dismissal

PURWAKARTA, West Java: Some 5,000 workers at a shoe factory which is experiencing financial troubles will be dismissed next month, Antara reported yesterday.

Some of the workers, who have known about the plan since April, said their employers at PT Indo Soes, which exports its products, have offered them new jobs at another factory in Bogor.

The manager, Paulus, blamed declining exports to the United States, European and Asian countries for the company's financial troubles.

"We can't keep the factory open in this situation," he said.

The head of the local manpower ministry office, H. Gumbira, said the company must give the workers severance pay. (01)