HI management, workers fail to reach agreement

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.