Garment workers strike for better pay

Garment workers strike for better pay

SEMARANG: Around 1,500 workers of private garment company PT Pantja Tunggal Semarang entered their third day of strike on Wednesday to demand better pay.

The protesters, mostly women dressed in blue work uniforms, skipped work and staged a sit-in at the factory, located at Jl. Simongan No. 98 in Semarang, Central Java.

They held up banners and posters carrying slogans in support of their protest.

The strike began on Monday with the workers marching on the local legislative council building, where they were received by members of Commission E for social affairs.

The protesters said they had lost trust in the company's labor union for its failure to strive for the workers' interests.

"We have a labor union but it does not represent us properly," Nur, one of the protesting workers, said.

Dewi, a protest leader, said the company exploited workers without paying them adequately if the form of bonuses and other benefits. --Antara