Maspion hits by strike over unpaid leave policy
Maspion hits by strike over unpaid leave policy
ID Nugroho and Ainur R. Sophiaan, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
As many as 4,000 workers of giant household equipment producer PT
Maspion in the East Java town of Sidoarjo went on strike on
Monday to protest a company policy on leave.
The protesters demanded that the company, which employees
6,000 people, compensate them should they not take the three-
month leave recently offered to them.
The Maspion management reportedly offered three months leave
to employees who had worked for the company for six years as
there had been a shortage of purchase orders.
The company's labor union, which is affiliated with the All-
Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI), approved the proposal.
Under Article 28 (2) of the Mutual Working Agreement for the
2003-2005 period signed by the management and the labor union,
those who do not take three-month leave are to receive
compensation.
But the protesting workers said the management had changed its
mind and was making the leave obligatory, thereby disallowing
compensation.
The policy angered the workers, and workers from Unit II and
III staged a sit-in inside the factory compound, located in
Buduran, Sidoarjo.
"Most of the workers do not want three months leave. They
instead demand that the company pay them compensation in the form
of money," said M. Sadli, a labor union leader.
"In reality, the management orders us to exercise our right to
leave because the company has been short of orders for the past
two years," he added.
Sadli said his union had several times tried to negotiate with
Maspion chief executive officer Alim Markus to settle the case,
but the efforts always ended in a deadlock. "That's why the
workers have decided not to work."
During the strike, protest leaders and representatives from
the management held talks that later failed to appease the
strikers.
Upon hearing that the talks were fruitless, most of the
strikers went home. About 200 of them remained in the compound.
Another unionist, Norman, said the workers would continue
their strike on Tuesday to pressure the company to accept their
demand.
The protest ended peacefully, with more than 200 police
officers deployed to maintain the peace.
However, the strike caused a severe traffic jam on the
Surabaya-Sidoarjo highway as many of the protesting workers
packed the streetside outside the factory.
Maspion Group spokesman Soeharto and other company executives
could not be reached for comment about the protest.
Also on Monday, around 300 street vendors staged a separate
protest in the country's second largest city of Surabaya against
a city bylaw that they said threatened their existence.
Rallying at the Surabaya legislative council, they demanded
that the Surabaya mayoralty revoke the controversial ruling.
Under Article 2 (2) and 4 (2) of Bylaw No. 17/2003, the mayor
has the authority to rid Surabaya of street vendors.
The demonstrators arrived at the council on Jl. Pemuda at
10:30 a.m. on two trucks and dozens of motorcycles.
They carried banners and posters with slogans against Surabaya
Mayor Bambang DH.
"Bambang DH, don't hurt street vendors. If our existence is
threatened, we will abstain from (voting) in the 2004 elections,"
shouted one protester.
Protest coordinator Choirul Anam said the bylaw threatened the
existence of street vendors as the mayor has been authorized to
determine their fate.
"How can the mayor be given the right to determine whether
street vendors should remain in existence or not? Becoming street
vendors was our way of surviving during the monetary crisis. Now
we are treated as they (the local administration) want," he said.
Representatives of the protesters were received by members of
the council's Commission B for talks.