HI management, workers fail to reach agreement
Bambang Nurbianto, Jakarta
Forty-one years since it was officially opened by Indonesia's first President Sukarno, Hotel Indonesia, along with the adjacent Inna Wisata Hotel, was closed down on Friday following a new private investor's decision to renovate both buildings to enable them to compete with other hotels in the area.
The takeover of both hotels by PT Cipta Karya Bumi Indah (CKBI), a subsidiary of cigarette giant Djarum group, caused around 1,300 employees to lose their jobs.
However, as of 8:30 p.m., many of them were still gathered in the Hotel Indonesia Bali Room, accompanied by Bandung-based PT Dirgantara Indonesia workers, activists and political party supporters, who were present to prepare themselves for Saturday's commemoration of World Labor Day.
They were observed playing chess and cards, chatting and sleeping. Some slept in a musholla (prayer room) at the Inna Wisata Hotel and along the sidewalk in front.
"All we want is to work again. Many of us are old already and we can't compete against young people," complained Hasanuddin, a 43-year-old technician from Hotel Indonesia engineering department. "I hope the new management can employ us -- I don't care in which unit. There will be between 8,000 and 10,000 new jobs -- it would be impossible that there'd be nothing suitable for me."
The father of three claimed that he would receive Rp 41 million (US$4,740) in severance pay for his 21 years of service at the hotel.
The workers were given a deadline of 10 p.m. Friday but the Jakarta Police were persuaded by legislator Rekso Ageng Herman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to delay any action until Saturday to allow the World Labor Day commemoration participants a chance to rest.
Earlier, Herman met with the two hotels' former management, PT Hotel Indonesia Natour (HIN), Hotel Indonesia Workers' Union representatives and Jakarta Manpower Agency head Ali Zubeir.
The meeting ended in deadlock as PT HIN insisted on dismissing the employees while the latter demanded to be reemployed after the renovation finished.
According to Herman, PT HIN had violated Article 148 of Law No. 13/2003 on manpower for not informing the relevant agency about the hotel closures.
Ali confirmed that his agency had not received any written notification from PT HIN about the closure of the hotels.
Workers' lawyer John Sirait said that the workers' demand to be reemployed was realistic.
"There will be around 10,000 jobs created after the renovation: Why doesn't the new management employ the hotels' former workers?" he asked The Jakarta Post.
Under a 30-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) scheme, PT CKBI, which will invest US$150 million, will demolish the Inna Wisata Hotel to make way for a supermall and will return Hotel Indonesia to its original design before alterations made following renovation back in 1974.
PT HIN President Director A.M. Suseto emphasized that his company did not have the final say on the recruitment process as the new management would have its own standards.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Herman held closed-door talks with Suseto and other members of PT HIN management. They refused to reveal the result of the talks, only saying that representatives of the disputed parties would meet again next Tuesday to seek an amicable solution.