Hero Supermarket employees rally demanding more pay

JAKARTA (JP): Some 2,000 employees of Hero Supermarket rallied on Wednesday in front of the company's headquarters on Jl. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta, demanding more pay.

The protesters, mostly wearing their uniforms and red arm bands, arrived at 9 a.m. and listened to speeches in the parking lot until about 5 p.m.

The protest caused the temporary closure on Wednesday of some 25 outlets of the supermarket chain in Greater Jakarta. However, several others, such as those at Bintaro and Pondok Indah in South Jakarta, remained open.

Hero Supermarket's company secretary Poedji I.H. Prasetyo, said 45 out of 69 outlets around the country had remained open.

Employees of the supermarket in Bandung in West Java, Yogyakarta, Magelang in Central Java and Bali also rallied at their respective area headquarters making the same demands.

Union chairman Sugeng Wahyudi, a supervisor at Hero's Gatot Subroto branch, said they were also demanding increases in daily allowances, such as those for transportation and healthcare, amounting to a total of Rp 30.7 billion for 8,200 employees.

Sugeng said that most of his colleagues joining the protest were sales and checkout personnel, administration staff and supervisors who were paid between Rp 310,000 and Rp 425,000 per month, including allowances.

However, the management said that the company abided by the applicable regional minimum wages.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration was quoted last month as saying that new minimum wage levels, initially scheduled to begin in September, would now take effect on Nov. 1.

The regional minimum wage in Jakarta is now Rp 344,257, which figure excludes allowances.

"Several workers involved in the protests were also threatened with dismissal," said Sugeng, adding that the ministry had been called on to act as a mediator in the dispute.

Separately, Hero Supermarket director Ipung Kurnia said the company could not meet the employees' demands.

"We will hold more talks with the union and the Ministry of Manpower tomorrow," said Ipung, who declined to reveal the amount of the losses caused by the protest. He also denied charges that the management had threatened workers. (07)