FSPSI sets up team to handle bank dispute

FSPSI sets up team to handle bank dispute

JAKARTA (JP): The All-Indonesia Workers Union Federation
(FSPSI) has set up a special team to handle the lingering
HongkongBank labor dispute, the union's chairman, Marzuki Achmad,
said yesterday.

Marzuki said this was the first time the union had done this
in its 23 year history.

"From now on we will set up teams, if necessary, to handle
possible cases in the future," Marzuki said.

He did not go into detail but said the HongkongBank case had
attracted international unions' attention.

These are the International Federation of Commercial,
Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees (FIET) and the
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), both
based in Geneva, Switzerland.

"The current structure has proven inadequate" to come up with
a solution, Marzuki said.

Eleven Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. union
executives were fired on April 17 for instigating an illegal
strike involving 189 employees.

The union, chaired by Ugianto, said the strike was
spontaneous. It said the action was triggered by delayed
negotiations in a collective labor union.

Wilhelmus Bokha, the head of the special team, said the case
had reached a crisis point and that a team should have been set
up earlier.

On Friday the 11 dismissed employees filed a lawsuit against
the Ministry of Manpower's arbitration board.

The lawsuit was filed with the State Administrative Court.

They are suing the board for allowing the bank to dismiss
them. The ex-workers are represented by the Jakarta Legal Aid
Institute (LBH).

The board allowed the dismissals on the grounds the union
executives had instigated an illegal strike.

Wilfridus Leba, the bank union's secretary, said yesterday he
and his colleagues were very happy about the establishment of the
team.

"We're optimistic now we'll win," he said.

The team from FSPSI's central board seemed like "a cloud
reaching the earth" because until now the central board "seemed
so far away from shop-floor unions," Wilfridus said.

Bokha said the team would approach the government to help
reinstate the 11 union executives.

He said another goal was to use the arbitration board's
authority to change labor policy.

"Decisions of the board should be legally binding," Wilhelmus
said.

Now if management or employees do not carry out a board's
decision they have to seek help from a district court.

The FSPSI executives said various factors influenced the
decision to set up teams for critical cases.

Marzuki denied these included increasing pressure from other
unions and less government pressure against labor.

But sources said FSPSI executives were sick of years of
inaction on their part.

The FIET federation of commercial employees has launched a
campaign for the HongkongBank employees. Its Singapore-based Asia
Pacific branch (Apro-FIET) has sent postcards to its members in
120 countries to sign. The postcards appeal to the management "to
respect international labor standards" and will be sent to the
HongkongBank here. (anr)