600 factory workers go on strike for timely pay
600 factory workers go on strike for timely pay
TANGERANG (JP): About 600 factory workers of a glassware
manufacturing company went on strike yesterday in front of the
plant on Jl. Daan Mogot, Batuceper.
They demanded that their employer, PT Opal Indah Glass
Industry, stop delaying the payment of their monthly wages, hand
over immediately their social insurance fees and improve the
daily menu.
The workers blockaded the entrance gate at 10 a.m. and barred
dozens of trucks from entering, which had come to load containers
of the company's products to be shipped overseas.
According to the workers, the strike was held after getting
unsatisfactory responses from the local workers' association and
their employer, who they said, has delayed the monthly payment
their salaries for many months.
One of the workers said that wages for August, for instance,
have been delayed to Sept. 6, after several changes.
"The company has even planned to postpone our August wages
until Tuesday," he said.
"Knowing that the wages will be suspended, we all stopped
working and went on strike," said another protester.
The other reason for staging the strike was the boring daily
menu and the unsatisfactory services they received from state-run
hospitals and clinics due to their company's delay in paying the
fees to PT Astek, the state-owned worker's social insurance
company, said the workers.
The workers did not give details about the menu. However, they
did say that the company had not paid the insurance fees for
almost a year but kept cutting 2.5 percent from employees' wages
every month.
The company's financial manager, Sanaroh, told reporters that
the suspension of the workers' wages and the insurance fees was
mainly due to the firm's poor production performance over the
past six months.
Sanaroh admitted that the company had not paid the monthly
insurance fees for their workers since August last year because
the firm has not had enough money.
"According to the law, the Astek insurance fee equals 12.5
percent of a worker's monthly salary. Of that amount, 10 percent
should be subsidized by the company and the remaining 2.5 percent
cut from the worker's wage," said Sanaroh, who was accompanied by
the local workers' association chairman, M. Noor.
However, Sanaroh's explanation differed from that of the
company's president, F.S. Santosa.
According to Santosa, his company planned the postponement
deliberately, in order to change the payment date from the end of
each month to the first week of each month.
"Paying the wages at the end of the month creates long queues
at banks because there are so many companies paying their workers
at the same time," he argued.
"Moreover, taking money from banks at the end of the month is
risky because they are staked out by robbers," said Santosa.
He also denied the workers' complaint that his company has yet
to pay the Astek insurance, and rejected Sanaroh's remarks that
the company is currently suffering from a poor production
performance.
"Our factory is running as usual and there's no reduction in
our production," said Santosa.
The workers continued their strike until the evening. There
has been no sign that the company will meet their requests.
(41/bsr)