Bandung court favors PTDI workers
Bandung court favors PTDI workers
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
A panel of judges at the Bandung District Court ruled on
Wednesday in favor of the union at aircraft manufacturer PT
Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI), which had filed a suit to stop the
firing of more than 6,000 employees.
The three defendants in the suit were the management of the
ailing company, the Office of the State Minister for State
Enterprises and the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency (IBRA).
Presiding judge Marni Emmy Mustofa said in her decision that
the extraordinary shareholders meeting held by the three
defendants in August last year, which recommended the dismissal
of more than 6,000 employees, was illegal.
Only three of the company's directors attended the meeting,
while regulations require such extraordinary meetings be attended
by all five directors of a company, she said.
The two directors absent from the meeting were Puji Sulaksono
and Budi S. Taufik.
They refused to attend the meeting because they were informed
of it via short messaging service (SMS) rather than by an
official written invitation, according to the presiding judge.
In the decision, the panel of judges ordered the management to
restore the rights of the dismissed employees and allow them to
return to work at the company.
The court also ordered the PTDI management to establish a
joint restructuring commission to look into ways to save the
company from its financial woes. This commission should comprise
representatives from IBRA, the union, the Office of the State
Minister for State Enterprises and independent parties.
More than 3,000 employees of the company and their families,
who followed the proceedings outside the courthouse, lauded the
decision.
The panel of judges ordered the defendants to pay a fine Rp 60
million (US$7,500). They also urged police and prosecutors to
investigate alleged corruption at the company.
In its decision, the court said the employees were fired to
shift blame for the company's financial troubles from the
management of the company to the employees.
The judges also said the company would not have gone bankrupt
if there was no mismanagement at the company.
However, there are questions as to whether the company, which
is struggling to repay debts, will be financially able to bring
back the workers.
This situation began last year when the management, with the
government's approval, dismissed 6,600 of the company's 9,350
employees. The workers were laid off after the company was unable
to repay its debts to local and international creditors.
The government released US$5 million for severance and service
pay for the dismissed workers, who rejected the payments and
demanded their jobs back.
They said the company's financial problems were not caused by
overstaffing, but by a corrupt and inefficient management that
had cost the company between Rp 2 trillion and Rp 3 trillion
since 1997.
M. Lutfi Hakim, the lawyer for the defendants, said he would
appeal.
The president director of PTDI, Edwin Soedarmo, said the
employees would not be rehired. He said the Central Committee for
the Settlement of Labor Disputes (P4P) had the ultimate authority
to rule on the case.
The P4P has backed the dismissals.