Committee sides with bank workers

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)