Kartika Plaza's workers agree to resign

JAKARTA (JP): Kartika Plaza Hotel workers have agreed to resign this month rather than face possible dismissals in connection with a plan to demolish and rebuild the facility, the hotel management announced over the weekend.

Speaking at the Army Cooperative's head office on Saturday, Brig. Gen. L. Mulyanto, chief commissioner of the hotel, said that the final decision was reached on Saturday after 14 discussions with representatives of the hotel's unit of the All- Indonesia Workers Union.

"The staffers said they agree to accept an average of 61 times their individual salaries in severance pay. The minimum severance pay to be received by a worker is Rp 7 million and the maximum is Rp 170 million."

Chief of the company's unit of the All-Indonesia Workers Union, Sudarno, said that the smallest amount, Rp 7 million ($3,146), will be received by workers having been employed at the hotel at least five years at a salary of Rp 166,000 ($74.6) per month.

The highest, Rp 170 million ($76,404.5), is for managerial level, he said.

Brig. Gen. L. Mulyanto said the workers have not submitted a collective resignation letter, but are resigning individually. Out of the 467 workers, only 260 had submitted resignation letters up to Saturday.

The 25-year-old Kartika Plaza hotel, is partly owned by PT Wisma Kartika, a company managed by the Army's Cooperative. Last year, 60 percent of the hotel's equity was acquired by a local businessman, Fredy Gozali of PT Luminari.

The new management plans to demolish the old four-star hotel building and put up a new five-star hotel. The plan had caused concern among the hotel staffers.

The workers staged protests against the plan, following rumors that they would be dismissed. Their refusal to go on duty surprised the hotel's management as well as its guests. The hotel formally stopped operation on Oct. 4.

"We told the workers that we would provide them with their salaries during the hotel's construction. They refused and asked to resign with severance pay."

Gozali said that the reason for putting up a new hotel was the stiff competition among hotels in Jakarta. "The existing 11-story hotel was no longer competitive. We plan to construct a new 32- story five-star hotel called Westin Kartika."

When asked about the need to hire workers for the new hotel, Gozali said, "That will be in the hands of the new management, but we will give priority to former Kartika Plaza workers."

The new 500-room hotel, a branch of Westin International, will be the first Westin hotel in Indonesia. It will require around 400 workers, some three percentage of whom are to be expatriates. (03)