Govt rejects Nikko dismissals

JAKARTA: Dozens of employees of the Nikko Hotel in Central Jakarta and members of the Federation of Independent Workers Union took to the streets on Tuesday to hail the manpower agency's decision to reject the dismissal of 237 employees of the hotel.

The demonstrators staged performances at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, which slowed traffic from about 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

They also urged the hotel's management to rehire the dismissed workers in compliance with the agency's decision.

Nikko Hotel's management claimed that it suffered losses in 2002 and 2003 and had too many employees. The hotel's worker union said the hotel earned a profit of up to Rp 1.4 billion (US$150,537) last year and had an occupancy rate of over 70 percent.

A total of 75.97 percent of the shares in the hotel were sold by the Office of the State Minister for State Enterprises through the old management of PT Wisma Nusantara Internasional to Singapore-based PT Guthrie Logistic Private Limited on Dec. 13, 2002.-- JP