Fired workers demand pay

BANDUNG: Hundreds of former PT Dirgantara Indonesia workers demonstrated on Tuesday to demand the government give them severance pay following their dismissal by the company.

According to protest coordinator M. Sidharta, the workers had the law on their side after the Bandung District Court ruled in favor of the workers and ordered the company to give them their severance pay.

"With the fuel price increases, living costs are also rising. Please help to end our suffering. Give us our severance pay, as agreed," Sidharta said in a speech.

The Central Committee for the Settlement of Labor Disputes earlier ruled that Dirgantara Indonesia could fire its approximately 2,000 workers, but required the company to pay them more than double the amount of severance pay regulated by the manpower ministry.

However, the company said it was financially unable to afford the Rp 160 billion in severance pay, which prompted the workers to take the company to court.

"We will never stop demanding what is ours until the officials realize that it is a sin to abandon us," Sidharta said. -- JP