Airline employees demand payment

TANGERANG: About 100 employees of Indonesia Airlines staged a rally at the Tangerang manpower office on Tuesday morning, demanding that the company be forced to pay them salaries owing.

An employee representative, Rony A. Oktaviano, said that the employees had not been paid since April.

The dispute began after the airline management decided to serve the haj pilgrimage route in January. Due to lack of preparation, the airline failed to obtain permission from the Saudi government to land at King Abdul Aziz Airport in Mecca, which left many pilgrims stranded at the airport.

Therefore, the company used its payroll to reimburse haj agents.

"Therefore, we demand the company pay our salaries through the (manpower) office," Rony said. -- JP