Nightclub workers go on strike

BANDUNG, West Java: Thousands of hostesses stayed off the job at nightclubs and entertainment centers around the city to occupy the provincial legislature building in protest of their employers' plan to lay them off during the upcoming Ramadhan fasting month.

The protesters, mostly the staff members of pubs, discotheques and massage parlors, demanded the provincial legislative council press their employers to cancel a plan to lay them off for financial reasons.

"We call on the Bandung municipal administration to allow us to work through Ramahan because we won't have any money to celebrate the Idul Fitri holidays if we're laid off," one protester, Gunawan, said.

He also said the local administration should review the bylaw banning entertainment centers from operating during the fasting month.

Syachruddin, a councillor, pledged to discuss the problem with the local administration and to seek other alternative solutions. -- Antara