Court upholds staff dismissal
Court upholds staff dismissal
JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Administrative High Court upheld on
Wednesday a decision by the Indonesian-Hong Kong textile joint
venture PT Tyfountex Indonesia, based in Surakarta, Central Java,
to dismiss 1,772 of its 8,000 workers.
Presiding judge Marcus Lande said that the court was also
ordering the Labor Disputes Arbitration Board at the Ministry of
Manpower to issue a new decree which approved the dismissal.
"The company has effected the dismissals in line with the
existing manpower regulations," Lande said.
He said that the court's decision was made in response to a
lawsuit filed by the company in October in which the firm asked
the court to reject the arbitration board's decision, which
ordered the company to reemploy the dismissed workers.
He said the dispute started with refusal by a worker,
identified as Abdul Latief, and his friends to resume work after
conducting a mass demonstration to demand an increase in their
wages in July last year.
Even though the management had agreed to increase monthly
wages to an average of Rp 146,300 a month, compared to the
mandated minimum pay of Rp 130,000, as of August, the workers
still rejected it.
The protracted labor dispute culminated in a massive
demonstration by around 700 workers at the manpower ministry here
for five days in September.
Tyfountex, an integrated textile company which started
operating in Surakarta in 1974, exports most of its fabrics and
garments. Its annual export revenue is around US$60 million.
The company's lawyer, Jack R. Sidabutar, said the court's
decision was unexceptionable and there was no surprise.
"We have asked the workers to resume work but they refused. We
have had a headache about it," Jack said.
Meanwhile the workers' lawyer Christina Rini from the Jakarta
Legal Aid Institute and arbitration board's lawyer Joko Mursito
have decided to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
Several workers were visibly upset with the decision, saying
that the court had only considered the company's lawsuit without
taking into consideration the workers' testimonies. (jun)