Disabled reject severance pay
Disabled reject severance pay
JAKARTA (JP): Eighty handicapped workers of Swa Prasidya Purna
workshop for the handicapped rejected on Wednesday combined
severance pay of Rp 200 million (US$25,000) offered by the
center's management.
The severance pay was offered in compensation for the
cessation of the center's operations, but the employees demanded
instead that they be allowed to continue living at and running
the center.
The employees said they were asked to leave the center because
the land on which it stood would be used for the construction of
an apartment block and a tennis court.
Guarded by several police officers and witnessed by officials
from the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Social
Services, executives of the center urged the employees to accept
the offer.
The entourage left the center, located on Jl. Cempaka Putih
Raya, Central Jakarta, at 1 p.m after the workers turned down the
offer.
The management of the center, which is owned by the Harapan
Kita foundation, has been asked by the Central Committee of Labor
Disputes (P4P) of the Ministry of Manpower to disburse severance
pay to help settle its dispute with the workers.
The P4P's decision, however, was strongly rejected by the
workers on the grounds that they were never consulted.
Lawyer Nelly Hutagaol of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, who
represented the workers, said they would appeal to the Jakarta
State Administrative High Court.
Nelly said they also planned to file a lawsuit against the
center's executives for not paying them according to manpower
regulations.
The dispute started when business tycoon Probosutedjo, who was
head of the center's management, closed down the center on July
31 due to the monetary crisis.
The workers protested the closure and asked the government to
let them run the business.
Before the closure, the center, which was founded by former
president Soeharto's late wife, made and sold various items.
These included printed material, garments, handicrafts and
household items. (jun)