ACTU reports Shangri-La to WB
JAKARTA (JP): The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has urged the World Bank to take action against Robert Kuok, the owner of the Shangri-La hotel chain, for rejecting workers' demands to be paid the minimum monthly wage, it was reported here on Friday.
Quoting Friday's edition of the Australian publication The Edge, Antara reported on Friday that the ACTU's president Sharon Burrow made the request during a special meeting with World Bank President James Wolfenson during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last month.
During the meeting, she asked the World Bank to take action against Robert Kuok as the Jakarta hotel charged room rates of US$95 per night but only paid its workers US$35 a month.
The hotel management has frequently refused to discuss the workers' demands and even called police to disperse striking workers on Dec. 26.
The council sent an official letter to the World Bank this week as a follow-up to the meeting between Burrow and Wolfenson in Davos.
The ACTU took the view that the hotel management had violated Indonesian manpower regulations and the rights of the workers, and that this was contrary to the World Bank's mission to help developing countries.
The construction of the hotel in 1992, which cost US$86 million, was financed by a joint venture between the World Bank and a local private consortium.
The ACTU used the Shangri-la case to draw attention to a real estate project being constructed at Victoria harbor, Melbourne, The Edge reported.
The project tender is likely to be secured by Market City Properties, a company owned by Robert Kuok, instead of its competitor, Australian property giant Lend Lease.
The hotel management is still insisting on dismissing 450 workers for going on strike. The management has also rejected House of Representatives' suggestions to discuss the matter rather than going ahead with the dismissals.
The House had earlier stated its view that the management had illegally suspended the chairman of the hotel's labor union Nurdin Halilintar.
The suspension of Nurdin resulted in 900 members of the union walking off the job. (jun)