Mint employees demand pay rise

JAKARTA: Some 100 employees of the state-owned mint, Perum Peruri, staged a demonstration on Monday at its office on Jl. Faletehan, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, demanding a salary hike of 100 percent.

The workers, grouped in the company's labor union, also urged the company to be transparent with its financial reports as they alleged there had been some manipulation conducted by the accounting department. They also demanded loans for housing as well as water and electricity allowances.

The coordinator of the rally, Imam, told detik.com that their salary was far below the budget allocated by Bank Indonesia.

For instance, he said, the basic salary of a new employee who graduated from high school was Rp 800,000.

The company's management, however, said the demand to double the salary was unreasonable. Its spokesman, Zachrudin, said that the take-home pay of a new employee was Rp 1.4 million, not including overtime or other benefits.

One of the directors, TM Karnadi, said that the company would suffer if their demands were met because the pension fund and cash flow would be severely affected. --JP