Kartika Plaza hotel closed for immediate renovation

JAKARTA (JP): The four-star Kartika Plaza hotel on Jl. Thamrin in the heart of Jakarta has closed its doors for renovations.

Hotel sources said yesterday the fate of the hotel's employees was still uncertain, including the separation pay to which they are entitled in the case of their dismissal.

The renovation work is planned for April next year and is expected to take three years to complete. The hotel's employees have reportedly been offered the option of staying for the duration of the renovation or terminating their employment.

Many employees have reportedly opted to leave and are demanding severance pay. For those employees wanting to remain, the conditions are still unclear, the sources said.

"We are waiting until our demands are met by the hotel's management board," said Yeti, the hotel's bar and restaurant cashier. Her statement was supported by twenty other employees who were sitting idly in the lobby, watching television and chatting.

Five steps from the hotel's front door, a coffin was laid and covered with a green cloth bearing the words "We want to be buried here". Various banners hanging from the walls aired the employees' demand for "humane" compensation.

"The renovation plan was announced by the new investor, PT Luminari Prima, when it bought 60 percent of the hotel's equity at the end of last year," she said.

Kartika Plaza Hotel, owned by PT Wisma Kartika, belongs to the Army cooperative Inkopad. PT Luminari Prima, a privately-owned company and business entity of Gadjah Tunggal, will join with the U.S.-based Westin Hotel to rebuild the 11-floor hotel into a 35- floor five-star establishment, Yeti said.

"The new management wants the new Kartika Plaza Hotel to be the most luxurious hotel in Southeast Asia," she added.

Yeti said that since June this year several meetings had been held between the shareholders, the hotel's employees and the board of trustees to discuss the renovation plan and the issue of severance pay.

"There has been no agreement whatsoever, particularly on severance pay, after 15 meetings," she said.

Yeti said the hotel's employees are demanding pay according to the number of years they have worked multiplied by their monthly salaries, plus Rp 150,000 in service fees multiplied by four.

"Most of the employees have worked more than 20 years. The Rp 150,000 is a service charge to be multiplied four times for compensation since we will be dismissed," Yeti said.

"We demand that this calculation be accepted because we have worked for this hotel for more than 20 years," she said, adding that the employee's salary was "low".

Ekman, a supervisor who has worked at the hotel for 25 years, said his salary was Rp 247,500 a month while Yeti claimed to get Rp 225,000.

Meanwhile, she said, the hotel's management offered to pay six times the salaries for those who have worked for more than 10 years in accordance with official regulations, plus 10 percent in service charges.

"The hotel management has set the deadline for Oct. 11 for us to accept the compensation," she said.

According to her, the hotel also offered its employees the option of receiving their normal salaries during the renovation period.

The employees, however, refused the offer and calculation set by the hotel management.

"We will fight to get our demand," they said.

No officials from PT Luminari Prima or PT Wisma Kartika were available for comment. (01)