Police fire on glove protesters

Police fire on glove protesters

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Police fired rubber bullets at factory
workers and beat them with batons after strike in North Sumatra
on Friday turned violent, leaving nine workers and two riot
officers wounded.

Antara reported from Medan that dozens of employees of rubber
glove factory PT Latexindo Toba Perkasa, held a demonstration in
front of the factory to demand a minimum wage hike and the
reinstatement of colleagues dismissed following a similar protest
early this month.

Angered by what they said was the cool reaction of the company
management, the workers later started to pelt the building
windows with stones. They also tried to jump over the gate, which
was closed from the morning.

"We had to use rubber bullets because the workers became
violent," Medan Police chief Col. Nono Supriyono said on
Saturday. Some officers were badly injured, he said.

A worker said one of her colleagues was shot in the leg.

The workers demanded a daily wage increase from the present Rp
1,400 to Rp 8,000, saying their current income was still below
the regional minimum wage.

The company's head of human resources development Nur Salasan
hinted the average monthly salary was above the Rp 174,000
minimum monthly wage.

The company which employs 685 workers agreed to increase
workers' minimum wage to Rp 200,000 following their strike
earlier this month. (prb)