Mandala sticks to decision on stewardesses' dismissal

Mandala sticks to decision on stewardesses' dismissal

JAKARTA (JP): Management of privately run Mandala Airlines has
rejected demands to revoke a decision to dismiss 40 of its 145
female flight attendants, saying the employees were in the wrong
to publicly protest the plan while it was pending.

Endan Kamandanu, head of the company's marketing division,
said the decision was considered final mainly because the flight
attendants broke their promise not to protest during
negotiations.

Flight attendants on the dismissal list held a rally against
the plan at the company's head office on Jl. Garuda, Central
Jakarta, on June 12.

Accompanied by lawyers from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute,
they visited the company office again yesterday to demand the
dismissal plan be revoked.

Endan argued the flight attendants' demonstration showed they
did not want to settle the dispute amicably.

"The demonstration was an unethical practice. We have handed
over the proposal for the dismissal to the Jakarta office of the
Ministry of Manpower. We will abide by any decision taken by the
manpower office."

Lawyer Christina Rini Yuliarti of the institute deplored
Endan's remarks. She said a demonstration by employees was not a
valid reason to dismiss them.

"Staging a demonstration is their right because they felt they
were treated unfairly."

Spokeswoman for the flight attendants, Rika Wijayanti, said
they held the demonstration because Mandala did not listen to
their reasons for opposing the dismissals.

Rika accused the company of "unethical" practices by using
catering staff members to deliver the termination letters.

The stress of the dismissal caused one flight attendant,
identified as Popy Aprilia, to suffer a miscarriage on June 17,
Rika added.

She also picked holes in Mandala's statement that retrenchment
was necessary due to the economic crisis.

"The company opened three new routes. We saw the company's
advertisements in newspapers."

She said improvements in the airline's finances was also
evident by the company's decision to raise the attendants'
salaries -- ranging from Rp 150,000 (US$9) to Rp 1 million -- by
an average of 10 percent last month after the salaries were cut
by 50 percent in January.

"So there is no reason to dismiss us."

Endan told the flight attendants that the company's financial
performance was not as healthy as the advertisements led them to
believe. "It's common that an advertisement always has an
optimistic view."

Dressed in their yellow-and-white uniforms, the stewardesses
failed yesterday to meet the company's business director, Armyn
Siregar, and in-flight service manager, Lutfia Hidayatie.

Rika said Armyn and Lutfia refused to discuss the dismissal
plan because of the presence of lawyers.

The flight attendants left the office at 3 p.m. They plan to
meet the executives at the manpower office tomorrow. (jun)