Labor protest hits Batam amid election campaign
Labor protest hits Batam amid election campaign
Fadli, The Jakarta Post, Batam, Riau
Around 1,600 workers of PT Foster Electric Indonesia staged a
protest on the industrial island of Batam, Riau province, on
Thursday to demand the increase of their salaries.
Amid the three-week campaign period for the legislative
election on April 5, involving 24 political parties, the protest
was the biggest to hit the island this year.
The striking workers commenced their protest at around 8 a.m.,
demanding that the management raise their salaries and
allowances.
The workers said they were paid only Rp 500,000 (US$58.8) a
month, while the Batam authorities had set the city's minimum
wage at Rp 602,000 per month.
The protesters also demanded that the sound-system company pay
them transportation, food and housing allowances as recommended
by Manpower Law No. 13/2003.
They said the management should provide female workers with
two days leave for menstruation or Rp 25,000 a day for those who
did not take the leave.
Protester Hendra Giri said the demands had been put to the
company last February but the workers had not received a
satisfactory response.
The current salaries, Hendra explained, were not sufficient to
cover the workers' daily expenses, including rent and
transportation fees. He said that most workers had to borrow
money to pay for their basic needs.
"We know that our company has received many orders. This is
proven by the fact that we have to work overtime for up to 50
hours per month," Hendra said.
He said the protesters would continue striking until their
demands were heeded by the management.
During the protest, inside the factory compound many workers
were observed singing. Others sat about idly, although they had
clocked in.
The company's human resources manager, Erwan Effendi, said PT
Foster could not afford to pay the workers more due to its
financial problems.
The decision was made during a meeting between the management
and representatives of the workers at the Batam manpower office
in mid-February, he said.
"We conveyed the result of the meeting to the workers: that
the company is not yet able to meet their demands. We will try to
convince them to stop striking," Erwan added.
Batam manpower office head Pirma Marpaung admitted he was
surprised by the scale of the protest considering that the
government was trying to resolve the problem amicably.
"We will continue to approach them, so that they will agree to
overcome this problem in the proper manner," he added.