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)