Hiring contract employees 'not always beneficial'
JAKARTA: When about 75 temporary staffs at Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) joined a protest last week against termination of employment contracts of 39 of them, this should have sent signals to the corporate world that hiring contract employees is not always beneficial.
Nevertheless, more and more companies, including multinational companies, are opting to employ temporary staffs from recruitment agencies to avoid paying more benefits, according to labor law expert Apong Herlina.
Apong told The Jakarta Post here on Saturday that user companies recruited temporary staffs to avoid difficulties that may arise, including paying compensation, should they have to terminate their employment contracts.
In the SCB case, the bank had successfully shifted the burden from the bank to recruitment agency, PT Prisma Jamintara. However, the bank would still bear the burden.
About 75 contracted employees at Standard Chartered Bank staged a protest at the bank office on Jl. Sudirman on Friday against the termination of the employment contracts of 39 temporary custodian and clearing staffs.
The protesters demanded the minimum compensation of five times their monthly salary while SCB and Prisma Jamintara offered twice the monthly salary plus other benefits.
The monthly salary for temporary custodian and clearing staffs averages at about Rp 700,000 (about US$63).
"We need more compensation from the bank considering that we had dedicated our life to the job," Jhon Hendri, the leader of the protest, told the Post on Friday.
Indrayana, a lawyer from the Indonesian Workers Union Association (ASPEK), claimed that Standard Chartered Bank had broken a manpower ministry decree by employing staffs on a temporary contractual basis for more than three years.
"SCB should know that clerical jobs such as custodian and clearing service are by nature continuous and permanent job functions that could not be fulfilled by temporary employees," he said.
The head of the legal department at Standard Chartered Bank, Budi Unggul Wibowo, confirmed that the bank had not extended the contracts of 39 custodian and clearing staffs due to the economic reasons.
"Standard Chartered Bank could not hire them as permanent staffs. They should pursue their demands not with Standard Chartered but with Prisma Jaminatara," Budi told the Post by phone.
Prisma Jamintara, meanwhile, said that it took responsibility for the severance of its contract employees by Standard Chartered Bank.
The company said that it had offered the 39 contract employees permanent jobs in the company. The company also said that it would allow them to resign and give compensation according to company' regulations. (04)