Hotel workers demand severance pay

Hotel workers demand severance pay

SURABAYA: More than 160 dismissed employees of a hotel in Surabaya, capital of East Java, staged a demonstration, demanding the hotel management fulfill its promise to pay a total of Rp 3.6 billion (US$423,500) in severance pay.

The workers threatened to occupy the hotel if the management failed to meet the deadline both sides set of May 31.

Both workers and the management agreed to provide the severance pay in a negotiation on Feb. 28 and paid it at the latest on May 31.

In a dialog with the hotel's finance manager Joni Panuju conceded that hotel owner Suryantono Suryo probably could not meet his promise since the Marama hotel, one of the oldest hotels in the city, was facing severe financial problems.

Chairman of the local chapter of the Confederation of All- Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI) Ismail Syarief said the workers would bring the case to court should the hotel management fail to meet the deadline.

"The court will require that the severance pay is paid to the employees if the hotel is declared bankrupt," he said.

Ismail also said the hotel owner had also embezzled the social security insurance funds collected from employees since they were not registered with state-owned insurance company Jamsostek. --Antara