Busway balks at rehiring drivers

Busway balks at rehiring drivers

Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The operator of the capital's TransJakarta Busway service, PT
Jakarta Express Trans (JET), confirmed on Saturday that it would
not reemploy five of its drivers who resigned, although they were
now considering working again for the company.

"It would be quite impossible to accept them back since it was
they themselves that decided to leave," PT JET operations
director, Payaman Manik Raja, told The Jakarta Post.

Manik, however, was not sure yet whether the five had already
submitted a request to work again, or whether they were among the
70 new applicants the company had received since their
resignation.

Last Monday, the five busway drivers decided to quit, claiming
their salary was not commensurate with their work, which
comprised an eight-hour daily shift driving back and forth
between Blok M in South Jakarta and Kota in West Jakarta.

The drivers, two from the PPD bus company, and three from the
Pahala Kencana bus company, claimed they got more in their
previous jobs.

Each of the busway drivers is said to receive a total of Rp
2,010,000 (US$236) per month, comprising a basic salary of Rp
700,000, a Rp 200,000 family stipend, a Rp 150,000 professional
stipend, and Rp 40,000 for each shift -- totaling 24 shifts each
month -- that they work.

Despite the drivers' claim, their intention to return is
somewhat acceptable since the promised salary is bigger then what
other regular bus drivers usually earn.

A driver of Mayasari Bhakti bus, serving the Lebak Bulus-
Bekasi route, claimed he could only get Rp 50,000 out of the
daily revenue target set by his company. The revenue target
varies according to each route, which is Rp 1 million in his
case.

The company, he said, gives monthly salaries as a mere bonus
if the drivers are able to meet the daily revenue target for a
month.

A PPD bus driver serving the route between Lebak Bulus and
Rawamangun said he received Rp 700,000 as a monthly salary, the
amount of which was sometimes reduced to pay for any damage to
the bus where he was at fault. He claimed that he often received
his salary late as the company was still mired in financial
difficulties.

He is not always able to fulfill the company's daily revenue
target of Rp 800,000 for normal working days and Rp 550,000 for
weekends and holidays. "I was even short by Rp 100,000 in the
last two weeks," he told the Post, pointing at the overlapping
route with the busway as the culprit.

"And I think people would still prefer to use the busway even
when it is no longer free, as its buses are comfortable, with no
street singers or food hawkers on board."