Journalists fired for joining strike

Journalists fired for joining strike

JAKARTA (JP): Six reporters of the Kapital business news
tabloid were dismissed on Monday for joining a strike asking for
clarification of their employment status, a statement said on
Tuesday.

The reporters' representative, Dandhy D.L., and lawyer Surya
Tjandra said the six newsmen were accused of provoking the
strike, which had been held since Dec. 22, with some 24 employees
taking part.

"The employees did not have a clear working status, although
they had worked for one year. The management's promise to clarify
their status never realized," Surya said in a written statement,
copies of which were made available to the media.

He added that due to this, the employees had worked without
insurance and had not received their basic rights as employees.

Surya said the six reporters were the ones who continued the
strike, while the rest had returned to work.

"The tabloid's management said the decision to dismiss the six
reporters was because of their poor work performance, although an
evaluation had never been conducted," he said.

Kapital's chief editor Nasir Tamara refused to comment. He,
instead let the tabloid's human resources manager, Diana, answer
questions.

Diana said the dismissal bore no relationship to the strike.

"It's simply because of their poor work performance," she
said, adding that a performance evaluation was conducted every
three months.

"It should have been clarified by their superiors whether the
reporters always received their three-month evaluation," she
said.

Kapital was launched on Nov. 30, 1998 by PT Bajomas
Nusapermata. It currently has 70 employees. (ind)