Hospital workers get substandard pay

Hospital workers get substandard pay

KEDIRI, East Java: Hundreds of contract workers at Gambiran
General Hospital here are being paid below the 2005 minimum wage
as set in an East Java gubernatorial decree.

Gambiran hospital is the largest hospital in Kediri.

Most of the 600 contract workers employed at the hospital,
which is run by the local administration, were receiving a
monthly salary of Rp 180,000 (US$20). The minimum wage is Rp
501,000.

The Kediri municipal administration has no plans as yet to
raise wages for hospital workers who have been working at the
hospital for at least three years.

"We do intend to increase their salaries, but there are some
measures that must be taken first, like cutting costs, since the
hospital has (so many contract workers)," Kediri municipal
secretary HM Zaini said on Saturday.

Zaini said while the workers' basic salary was Rp 180,000 a
month, they took home an average Rp 350,000 per month with the
addition of allowances and bonuses. -- Antara