Cosmos workers stage rally

TANGERANG (JP): Some 200 workers grouped in the Jakarta-Bogor- Tangerang-Bekasi branch of SBJ (a labor union) staged a rally at Tangerang Manpower and Population Agency office on Friday to demand better working conditions and an improved wage system.

The protesters are workers of PT Fajar Sun Master, a company that produces household electronic devices under the Cosmos brand name and employs 500 female and 100 male workers.

Dwi Yanto of the labor union said that 120 workers were facing dismissal due to their protest against the company's contract working system.

Two workers had been dismissed earlier for a similar reason, he said.

The union urged the company to reemploy them and rescind their decision to dismiss the 120 workers.

The protesting laborers demanded that the company eliminate the contract working system, improve its wage system and provide them with transportation and a lunch allowance.

One of the workers, Yanto, 29, said that most workers, who had worked at the company for more than three years, were still under contract status. Each of them received an average Rp 436,000 monthly wage. (41)