Eight garment workers arrested in protest

Eight garment workers arrested in protest

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

After firing five warning shots, the police successfully broke
up a rally on Wednesday and arrested eight workers of PT Koinus
Jaya Garment who had been demonstrating, along with some 250
others, to demand severance payment from the company.

About 200 officers from Tangerang Police precinct were
deployed to disband the rally on Jl. Imam Bonjol, Karawaci.

Police deputy detective chief Insp. Kustanto told The Jakarta
Post that the eight workers - all females - had been identified
as Nurfiqoh, Siti Suryati, Fitri Andriyani, Sri Hayati, Puji
Astuti, Lucia, Rita and Agustina and were detained for violating
Criminal Code Articles 170 and 160 on vandalism and incitement to
violence.

"The workers were detained because they had vandalized the
factory's entrance gate, fences, an announcement board as well as
a number of shoe racks," he said.

The remaining protesters then gathered at police headquarters
to demand the release of their colleagues.

Ninda, 21, one of them, told The Jakarta Post that some
workers had suffered wounds during a clash with police officers
who had forced their way into the factory to pick up the eight
workers, who were suspected of organizing the protest.

Ninda said the workers staged the rally to demand their
rights, asking the company to settle their case soon and pay them
their severance payment.

She said that 250 out of 500 workers at PT Koinus, a garment
company that produces jackets, were laid off due to the declining
sales of its products.

But Ninda also suspected that the company's management had
decided to dismiss the workers because they had joined the Karya
Utama Labor Union Federation.

The workers organized a rally on Saturday at the factory.
Because the company management had not yet responded to their
demands, the workers conducted a five-kilometer-long march from
the factory to the municipal council on Monday to conduct a joint
rally, along with over 800 former workers of PT Kencana Indah
Garment.

As of Wednesday, the workers, who had been laid off by PT
Kencana last month, were still refusing to vacate Tangerang
municipal council's office. They urged councillors to order the
company's management to make a fair settlement by providing the
workers with severance payment.

Despite having spent two nights at the council offices, none
of the factions nor any of the councillors had yet met with the
workers.

The workers were dismissed on Oct. 13 after the company's
management closed down the garment factory.

"The company did not pay any compensation to workers. We are
ready to be dismissed, but we demand severance pay," a worker
said in a speech on Monday at the council's hall.

She said that the company had given them Rp 180,000 each on
Oct.8 to pay for their wages for two weeks.

"We have no more money to buy food. My boarding house has
kicked me out me because I was not able to pay the fees," said
another worker called Yayah.

Many export-oriented companies in Tangerang and other places
across the country have had to lay off workers or even close down
their businesses due to the lack of orders, in particular from
the United States.