Protesting restaurant workers meet minister

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)