Plastic and shoe factory workers protest dismissal, substandard wages
JAKARTA (JP): Twenty five former employees from two factories in Tangerang and Bogor went to the Ministry of Manpower yesterday to complain about their dismissals and the substandard wages they received prior to them.
Putriningsih, who represented 20 former workers for PT Telaga Pelita Kencana, a plastic wares manufacturer in Tangerang, told reporters they were fired following her request for a dialog concerning a raise in their daily minimum wages, from Rp 2,750 (US$1.2) to Rp 3,800 ($1.7) on April 11.
The company then suspended them for 10 days starting on April 25. Putriningsih said that on May 7 all 21 were dismissed.
"There were 17 of us who have already signed the so called resignation papers. They were threatened into signing and were told that otherwise they would not be entitled to severance pay," she said.
Putriningsih said she refuses to accept the company's argument of lower production as the reason behind the dismissal and asked the ministry to take some action against the factory owner.
According to Putriningsih, she had complained to the Tangerang manpower office three times but she does not feel her case was taken seriously.
PT Telaga Pelita Kencana's officials were not available for comments yesterday.
Amit, a representative of 20 dismissed workers of PT Jaya Harapan Barutama, a shoes manufacturer in Cibinong, Bogor, told reporters that their dismissal was illegal as the Ministry of Manpower had not given approval for their laying off.
Bonus
He believed the dismissal followed a disagreement between the laborers and their employer concerning the amount of their Idul Fitri bonus in March.
He explained that in March the laborers asked the management to pay the bonus based on their daily wages, which ranged from Rp 3,800 ($1.76) to Rp 5,000 ($2.32), multiplied by 25 working days.
However, the company rejected the request and distributed the bonus based on the Rp 3,800 daily wage multiplied by 25 working days.
Amit said after the company rejected the request, Moch. Amin, the company's personnel manager, fired the 21.
Moch. Amin told The Jakarta Post that the demand was not in line with the decision of the company's labor unit, which had earlier approved a Rp 3,800-based bonus.
Amin added that the company had to dismiss the workers because they had launched a three-day strike, and engaged in vandalism and theft.
Amit said these allegations were groundless and an exaggeration.
Cepi Aulia, Director of Labor Standards who met the protesters, promised to handle the matter immediately.
Pardomuan Simandjuntak, a lawyer from Parist and Associates who accompanied the laborers to the ministry, said that the workers' decision to go to the ministry was the right one as the action will force the ministry's offices in Bogor and Tangerang to handle the matters. (03)