PT Gondola asked to pay compensation

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta office of the Ministry of Manpower has asked PT Gondola to pay compensation to the families of the four workers who died recently in a work-related accident at the Aryaduta Hotel on Jl. Prapatan, Central Jakarta.

"PT Gondola has to pay at least Rp 9 million (US$4,090) to the families of each worker," the supervision head of the office, Soekoyo, told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Soekoyo said that the office has also suspended the repainting of the hotel by the company until the repair of its equipment is completed to secure the safety of its workers.

Four workers of PT Gondola were killed last week after the platform supporting them dropped from the 17th floor of the hotel. They were identified as Solihin, Jefri, Abdullah and Nawir, all 20 year olds. The first three victims were from Brebes, while Nawir was from Purwodadi, Central Java.

The four workers were not clients of the state-owned insurance company PT Astek. Under Government Regulation Number 3, issued in 1992, companies are required to register their workers with PT Astek's workers' social insurance.

Soekoyo said that his office has set next week as the deadline for the payment of compensation, which should be given directly to the victims' families.

PT Gondola, according to Soekoyo, promised to pay the compensation to the workers' families in their residences in Central Java.

Meanwhile, chief of the Central Jakarta Police precinct, Lt. Col. Murawi Effendi, said there was no crime involved in the incident. "It was completely an accident," he said.

Effendi disclosed that the accident was caused by a combination of the absence of a security device on the gondola and recklessness on the parts of the workers themselves. (29)