Government to help Sony settle labor strike

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Manpower Bomer Pasaribu promised on Monday that the government would help settle the labor problem currently being faced by PT Sony Electronics Indonesia.

He said the dispute must immediately be settled so that it would not further discourage foreign investors and damage the investment image of Indonesia.

"I will meet with executives from Sony on Wednesday to find the best solution to the problem," he said.

Bomer declined to disclose the alternative solutions the government would suggest to the company.

He only said that the government would refer to the regulations on labor and industrial relations in settling the problem.

Sony Electronics Indonesia, which reportedly pays its employees well above the minimum level set by the government, has been facing problems in its operations due to its workers' protests.

More than half of its 1,500 workers at its plant in Cibitung, West Java, have been on strike since early April to protest the company's new work regulation that requires them to stand up during work instead of sitting down as they used to do.

The office of the Ministry of Manpower clarified that the stand up operating procedure is a better, healthier working method, but the workers have ignored the information and continue with their strikes.

Sony Electronics Indonesia, which is the sole producer in the country of Sony products, normally produces an average of some 4,000 items per day. The company books about US$200 million in total sales from its Indonesia operations a year.

However, due to the prolonged strike, the company has been forced to reduce its production lines from 12 to two lines as of mid-May.

Some of the products have even been shifted to Sony's plants in neighboring Malaysia.

The company's management said recently it would try its best to maintain its operation in the country despite the protest, in order to fulfill its business commitment to 71 local suppliers.

The Indonesian Association of Electronics Manufacturers said Sony was not the only electronics company hit by labor strikes. It said workers of Toshiba and Sanyo also held strikes recently, despite a 25 percent rise in their salaries. (cst)