Committee sides with bank workers

JAKARTA (JP): The arbitration committee at the Ministry of Manpower has decided to back the HongkongBank employees in their dispute with the management.

Wilhelmus Bokha, a member of the arbitration committee, was quoted by Pos Kota daily as saying over the weekend that the arbitrary committee had turned down the request of HongkongBank management to dismiss around 200 of its staffers. "That's a big win for the workers. The decision means that the bank management must re-employ the staffers who have been suspended for unclear reasons for four months," Bokha said.

Bokha, also the chairman of the All Indonesia Workers Union Federation (FSPSI), said the decision means that the management must summon the suspended employees within 14 days of the arbitration committee's decision. Bokha did not say what date the decision was issued.

The workers, he said, are also entitled to the 50 percent of their salaries they have not received since their suspension four months ago.

The dispute began in mid-January when employees went on strike to protest at a collective labor agreement.

More than 250 employees went on strike again on April 27 when the case was handed over to the Ministry of Manpower, which asked the two sides not to take any further action for the time being.

The second strike apparently provoked the bank management to suspend 11 workers who were executives of the bank workers' union. The management also issued official warnings to 240 striking employees urging them to go back to work, but these were ignored. The management then issued another letter dated April 29, 1996, asking the striking employees to resign, Pos Kota reported. (sur)