Govt to probe dismissal of 1,100 workers

Govt to probe dismissal of 1,100 workers

JAKARTA (JP): The government promised yesterday to investigate
reports that over 1,100 workers of 14 companies in Jakarta and
Bandung have been fired for demanding better pay.

Director General for Industrial Relations and Labor Standards
Suwarto told representatives of the dismissed workers that the
government would mediate in the dispute in order to achieve a
timely resolution.

The workers came to the manpower ministry office in two
groups. Those from Jakarta were accompanied by labor activists
from the Social Information and Legal Guidance Foundation
(SISBIKUM), while those from Bandung were accompanied by Tatang
S., an officer of the West Java manpower office.

"Don't worry, the government always helps workers," Suwarto
said during a meeting in his office with representatives of the
workers from Jakarta.

Some of the workers from each city were fired three years ago,
while others were sacked as recently as three months ago. They
have exhausted all other means of seeking reinstatement or
appropriate severance pay.

The Jakarta delegates represented 150 workers from various
companies. Those from Bandung represented almost 1,000 workers,
all of which were formerly employed by PT Jersindo, a spinning
factory.

Tatang said that about three months ago the spinning factory,
in financial trouble, had fired over 1,000 of its workers, mostly
those working under contracts.

The mass dismissal provoked a demonstration in Bandung
involved students and activists, who helped the workers press
their demand for severance pay.

Legal uncertainty

Arist Merdeka Sirait of SISBIKUM said in the meeting that the
Jakarta workers had brought their case to the Central Board for
Settlement of Labor Conflicts (P4P), which had decided in favor
of the laborers. He said that the companies had refused to
implement the board's decision.

"We have wasted a lot of precious time and money. The failure
(of the companies to implement the Board's decision) has proven
to us that there is no legal certainty for the oppressed," he
said.

The tripartite institution, which consists of representatives
from the workers, the company and the government, has not
functioned as expected, he added.

"It's as if the workers had lost their goat while they were
trying to regain their chicken. What an irony," he said.

Didiek Hendry Pasaribu, chairman of the All Indonesian Workers
Union unit at the advertising company PT Mitra Adi Selaras in
Jakarta, said he was sacked because he had defended fellow
workers in 1992.

He said he had brought the case to the local as well as the
central P4P board but he had lost the legal battle.

"The board endorsed my dismissal with the proviso that the
company gave me severance pay. I accepted the decision, but the
firm refused to give me the severance pay," he said.

Armansyah, 21, told Suwarto that he and 17 friends of his at
PT Astari Niaga in Tangerang were dismissed in 1991 after
demanding a wage rise. Moreover, he said, he was also detained
and interrogated at a local police station for what he had done.

"The right to wage rise is there in the collective labor
agreement signed by the company management and workers. So what's
wrong with demanding it?" he said.

Sowarto said the manpower ministry would dispatch a team in
the near future to investigate the workers' claim. He promised to
make the companies abide by the P4P verdicts if what the workers'
claimed was correct. (rms)