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)