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.