Court turns down taxi drivers' lawsuit

JAKARTA (JP): Six drivers from the Gamya taxi company who have been jobless for two years were left in despair Wednesday when the East Jakarta District Court dismissed their lawsuit against the company this week.

The team of judges led by M. Basoeki ruled that there was no reason for the company to allow the drivers to establish a trade union.

PT Gamya has insisted that a union is unnecessary because the company already has an association called the Employee Corps.

The judges also said that the plaintiffs could not prove that their dismissal was prompted by their plan to set up a branch of the All-Indonesia Workers Union Federation.

A company representative also denied the accusation.

"The drivers received a written order to stop working. This was an instruction for them to solve whatever problems they had before they could be allowed to start operating again. But it does not mean dismissal," a source from Gamya who asked to remain anonymous told The Jakarta Post.

The plaintiffs' lawyer from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, Christina Rini, told the Post that the six sacked drivers plan to appeal the decision to a higher court. (14)