Bandung court rules in favor of PT Dirgantara employees

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung, West Java

The Bandung State Administrative Court ordered on Tuesday that state-owned aircraft maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PTDI) revoke its resolution suspending its 9,643 employees since July 11 this year.

"The resolution must be revoked on the grounds that the company violated the 2003 Manpower Law," said Arpani Mansyur, who presided over the trial.

According to Article 146 of the Manpower Law, the management of PTDI should have talked to the employees and the local Manpower and Transmigration Office at least seven days before it issued the resolution.

However, the company failed to do that, said Arpani.

"The company hastily issued the resolution and ignored and violated the law. Therefore, the resolution on the suspensions must be revoked," said Judge Arpani.

The decision was hailed by more than 3,000 employees and their families, who attended the court hearing here on Tuesday.

Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, a sister and ardent critic of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, was seen among the crowd of employees. She gave a speech in support of them.

The employees and their families cheered upon hearing the judge's ruling, but Arif Minardi, the chairman of PTDI's Worker's Communication Forum, quickly warned the crowd that the employees still faced a long and winding road to justice.

After the trial, lawyers for PTDI said they were considering filing an appeal with the high court.

Meanwhile, the thousands of suspended employees expected to resume work on Wednesday.

Arif said the ruling upheld the rights of the employees to resume work.

"For us, the ruling is like a candle in the dark. It brings hope to us that justice will finally be done in the country," he said.

In a related development, the management of PTDI issued two other resolutions on Monday, just one day before the court handed down its ruling.

The first resolution withdrew the earlier resolution suspending the 9,643 employees, while the second resolution stipulated that the management of PTDI had fired 3,900 employees.

It was not known whether the 3,900 employees were part of the 9,643 employees who were previously suspended by PTDI management. The company had more than 12,000 employees.

PTDI director for general affairs Muhammad Nuril Fuad said the company had allocated Rp 130 billion (US$16.25 million) for severance payments for the dismissed employees.

Fuad said the 3,900 employees had been fired on the grounds that they had failed to register for a selection test to rejoin the company.

He said the selection test had been attended by 5,200 employees, and the selection outcome would be announced on Oct. 10. Only 3,400 of the 5,200 will be rehired.

Those failing to pass the selection test will be enrolled in a "redeployment center" program run by the company, he said.