Bogor workers continue strike

BOGOR (JP): Hundreds of workers at a private company entered the fourth day of their strike yesterday, demanding meal and transport allowances.

The workers of privately owned PT Upati, which produces photo albums for export, visited the local manpower office in the hope that their employers would agree to their request.

The employees, who went on strike Saturday, want the company to pay a meal allowance of Rp 1,500 (US 40 cents) and a transportation allowance of Rp 1,000 per day for each worker.

But the company's personnel manager, Martin Pangemanan, rejected the workers' demands saying that Upati was not in a good financial state.

"The company's sales have decreased rapidly from between $1 million to $2 million in 1995 to only between $500,000 to $1 million now," Martin said yesterday.

He said the price of the firm's products had remained constant while the workers' salaries had significantly increased.

The minimum wage rose by 10 percent in 1995, 30 percent last year and 10 percent this year, he said.

After hearing Martin's explanation, the workers lowered their demand, asking the company for "only" Rp 1,000 a day for meals. They dropped their call for a transport allowance.

But the revised meal money demand was also rejected by the company executive.

The workers and their employer agreed to have the matter settled in the Provincial Committee on Work Disputes in Bandung, West Java, after they were unable to reach a mutual agreement. (24/jun)