Protesting restaurant workers meet minister

JAKARTA (JP): About 300 workers of Coca Suki restaurant located on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, South Jakarta, entered their second day of protest yesterday by going to the Ministry of Manpower.

Unlike earlier visits to the ministry to file complaints, the 300 workers were met by Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris. In previous visits they were met by ordinary ministry officials.

Even though they managed to meet the minister, the workers left disappointed by the way Fahmi frequently interrupted them.

"The minister never listened to our demands completely and he often cut us off when we were explaining our case," the workers' spokesman Deni Arifianto said.

Deni said Fahmi only promised to help the workers meet with the Thai restaurant's management, PT Boga Selera Perdana, to discuss the matter.

One of their complaints was directed at the restaurant's general manager, Ervan Ibrahim, who they said was arrogant and should be dismissed.

"Ervan is very rude. He often called us coolies, pedicab drivers and so on. He was often angry with us without any clear reason," employee Misbuh said.

The employees, some of them wearing chefs' uniforms, started their protest on Thursday at the BRI building complex where the restaurant is located.

They also demanded that the company increase their salaries in line with the existing regulation on the regional minimum wage of Rp 198,375 a month.

Misbuh said the employees who had been working between one year and six years were paid only between Rp 120,000 and Rp 160,000 a month.

He said the employees also urged the company to include the workers in the obligatory Jamsostek social security program.

Yesterday's discussion between the minister and the workers was marked by a small misunderstanding when a Jakarta Legal Aid Institute lawyer, who accompanied the workers at their request, was told to leave the meeting.

Lawyer Nelly Hutagaol said she had introduced herself, but Fahmi insisted on discussing the problem only with the workers and asked her to leave the ministry.

"I just want to talk about it with workers. I don't want to discuss about it with nonworkers," Fahmi was quoted by Nelly as saying.

Nelly then walked out of the hall and let the workers discuss their problems with the minister.

The institute's labor division head, Surya Tjandra, regretted the incident, saying: "He is rather paranoid when workers are accompanied by lawyers."

Surya said the institute was asked by the workers to accompany them in the meeting. "We don't have any motivation whatsoever. The incident makes it seem as if the minister considers us as the mastermind of the protest," he said. (jun)