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