Court rules in favor of fired workers

Court rules in favor of fired workers

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung, West Java

Hundreds of fired workers from state-owned aircraft manufacturer
PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) welcomed the Jakarta State
Administrative High Court's (PTTUN) verdict, which requires the
Bandung-based company to reinstate its employees and pay their
salaries for the dispute period.

The panel of judges who presided over the case overturned the
decision made by the Central Committee for Labor Dispute
Settlement (P4P) last month, which accepted the management's
decision to fire the workers.

Gathering near the company's factory gates on Wednesday, the
workers agreed that they would travel to Jakarta to press the
government to comply with the verdict.

Deputy chairman of PT DI's trade union Hadio Pramono said the
employees had gathered together to thank God for the favorable
verdict.

"We have been waiting for justice for eight months. It looks
like (the law) is on our side," he said, adding that the
dismissed workers would fight to uphold justice.

Chairman of P4P Sabar Sianturi declined to comment on the
court verdict, saying that P4P, which was being sued by the labor
union, had not been asked to attend the trial.

"I won't comment at present because P4P has yet to receive a
copy of the verdict," he said.

The management of PT DI, with the support of the government
had fired 6,650 of 9,350 workers due to financial problems, which
had plagued the company since 1997. The government had agreed to
disburse US$5 million for severance pay for the dismissed
workers.

The fired workers opposed the management's decision, saying
that the government should reshuffle the management as the
company's financial woes had resulted from mismanagement,
inefficiency and past corruption. They said the management should
be accountable for the misappropriation of between Rp 2 billion
and Rp 3 trillion over the last seven years.

Meanwhile, PT DI management said that it would appeal the
court verdict with the Supreme Court.

General affairs director of PT DI Muhammad Nuril Fuad said
that the management was still consulting with its team of
lawyers.

He insisted that his company could not comply with the verdict
as it was only able to pay around 3,000 workers at present,
albeit, that the government had committed to helping the company
pay the remaining 6,000.

He also said that the court had never invited the management
to attend the trial.

PT DI president Edwin Soedarmo said in Jakarta that PT DI was
seeking credit worth $39 million from banks, both at home and
overseas, to resume its contracts with many sides, including
British Aerospace.

According to him, many banks were committed to providing PT DI
with loans.