Plastic and shoe factory workers protest dismissal, substandard

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)