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)