Govt checking on Bogor labor issues

Govt checking on Bogor labor issues

JAKARTA (JP): The government is currently checking garment companies PT Rajabrana and PT Wisindo Agung, both in Cimanggis, Bogor, West Java, which are involved in labor disputes with their employees.

The Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Finance set up a joint team yesterday which was sent to the two companies to study the causes of the disputes.

"To find a fair and peaceful solution to the ongoing labor unrest in the two companies, the causes of the disputes need to be found," director for industrial relations of the Ministry of Manpower Tjepy Aloewi said in a meeting with the workers's representatives yesterday.

Around 70 workers, representing around 6,000 employees of the companies, staged a protest at the Ministry of Manpower yesterday, asking the government to help solve labor disputes in their workplaces. They said they were forced to stage the protest because the companies' managements refused to meet their demands.

The workers, who have been on strike for the last three days, protested the management's decision to deduct income taxes from their monthly salaries starting this month. The move will reduce their take-home pay by ten percent.

Director of wage affairs L.E. Lubis said the two companies could be at fault if the workers are paid only the minimum wage of only Rp 1.3 million (US$627.27) per annum for West Java.

According to the new tax law, the minimum taxable income is set at Rp 2.4 million per year for an unmarried worker and Rp 2.8 million for a married worker without children. (rms)