Hotel employees stage protest

JAKARTA (JP): At least 36 employees of Hotel Alia on Jl. Cikini Raya, Central Jakarta, complained to the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute on Monday that they had been moved to other branch offices on grounds that they set up a workers' union.

The workers' spokesman, Edi Suprapto, said the two-star hotel management moved the workers, but did not fire them, after they set up a branch of the All-Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) at the hotel earlier this month.

"The management did not acknowledge our union, but set up its own workers' union instead," he said.

He said the workers staged a demonstration on Oct. 3 to reject the hotel-backed union and the personnel appointed by the management to manage the union.

He said the management then moved the 36 workers to the hotel's other branches in Petamburan, Central Jakarta and Matraman, East Jakarta.

"We reject this change, because we have the right to set up our own workers' union," he added.

Lawyer Christina Rini of the legal aid institute, who met the workers, said the institute would invite the hotel management to discuss the matter.

Executives of the management could not be reached for comment. (jun)