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)