Cigarette factory workers end four-day strike
Cigarette factory workers end four-day strike
SURABAYA (JP): Some 40,000 workers of Indonesia's largest
cigarette company in East Java ended their four-day strike
yesterday after management agreed to meet their demands for
better pay.
The workers of PT Gudang Garam's main factory in Kediri
regency, 124 kilometers southwest of East Java's capital
Surabaya, and about 2,000 others in the company's paper factory
returned to work yesterday. The situation has reportedly returned
to normal.
The decision was made after director Yudiono Muktiwidjojo and
chairman of the Federation of All-Indonesian Workers Union's
Kediri plant branch Ragil Soekotjo signed a six-point agreement.
About 3,000 workers from the factory began protesting Monday
to demand better pay. The stoppage peaked Tuesday and Wednesday
with nearly all of the factory's 40,000 workers taking part,
forcing a halt in factory operations.
The agreement said, among other things, the company would pay
its workers weekly rather than every ten days; overnight work
would be done only if the company required it; and women on
menstrual leave would still be paid.
The company also agreed to increase workers' salaries. The
agreement, however, said the raise would take into consideration
the company's capabilities as well as the country's economy.
The workers have complained that their paychecks were
shrinking and demanded that the payment system revert to the old
system of a weekly payment instead of the monthly payments under
a new scheme started this month.
"Workers went on strike because their paychecks could no
longer support their daily needs with the rising price of daily
needs," Ragil Soekotjo said.
However, the agreement fell short of mentioning the percentage
of the workers's salary raise. The average monthly salary is
currently Rp 142,000, a little higher than the minimum standard
payment of workers in Kediri, Rp 127,500.
The workers had demanded a 50 percent salary raise and asked
that seniority be reflected in their paychecks.
"The management has actually raised the workers salary several
times, but it will again review the amount of the raise. What's
important now is that workers be patient and understanding," said
Gudang Garam's President Rachman Halim, who met with striking
workers Wednesday.
Gudang Garam, established in 1971, is the country's leading
cigarette maker.
It went public in 1990 and its market capitalization is the
second largest on the Jakarta Stock Exchange after state-owned
telephone monopoly PT Telkom.
The clove cigarettes it produces account for about 49 percent
of the Indonesian market. (nur/aan)