Property firm staff strike over welfare

JAKARTA (JP): Almost 150 employees of publicly listed developer PT Jaya Real Property went on strike and demonstrated yesterday morning at Jaya Building on Jl. MH. Thamrin, demanding welfare improvements.

The firm is a subsidiary of the widely diversified property developer PT Pembangunan Jaya, which is owned by the city administration and tycoon Ciputra.

Carrying banners and posters, the Jaya Real Property employees, who were mostly security guards, yelled and asked to meet company managers to discuss their demands.

One company executive, Budi Karya, met the employees before lunch and insisted they end their strike before he would discuss the demands.

The protesters, however, decided to continue the strike.

Employees representative Zulkifli said the protesters demanded that the company make employees who had worked for between three and eight years permanent staff.

Jaya Real Property had also not yet insured the employees with the state-run Jamsostek insurance firm as required by law, he said.

The protesters demanded the company improve its salary structure, health and pension guarantee and preferable compensation for employees who have to be laid off, he said.

Zulkifli said the company often fired employees or asked staff to quit without giving clear reasons.

The employees also urged the company to set up a workers union.

When asked to comment, the corporate secretary of Jaya Real Property, Andi Jaya Teguh, gave no precise answers on the employees' demands.

He said he would first check their demands with the company's human resources department.

"As far as I know, we have good human resources management. And I have not yet received details about the strike," he told The Jakarta Post.

The strikers are expected to return to work today. (jun)