PT Kadera workers vow to continue their strike

PT Kadera workers vow to continue their strike

JAKARTA (JP): Workers of car upholstery producer PT Kadera AR
Indonesia in the Pulogadung industrial estate in East Jakarta
said on Saturday they would continue their strike until the
company's management met their demands.

The workers said an attack on striking workers by some 500
unidentified people in the early hours of Thursday, which left
one dead and 11 injured, would not stop them from fighting for
their rights.

"I have been working for the company for nine years, but I
only receive Rp 374,000 (US$37.40) per month and a Rp 4,000
transportation allowance per day," one of the workers, Marijo,
38, told The Jakarta Post while visiting an injured colleague,
Rachmat Hidayat, at Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM).

"Our demands are logical and negotiable, but the company's
management has never shown the good intention of meeting the
demands of the 600 workers," another worker, Zainal, said.

"Although it is hard to find a job now, we will better off
leaving the company if the management keeps ignoring our demands.
We have even lowered our demand for a 100 percent salary increase
to 75 percent," another worker, Djoko, added.

The striking workers have made four demands: a 100 percent,
now 75 percent, increase in salary, the revocation of the
suspensions of two employees, the granting of permanent employee
status for workers who have been with the company for over 18
months and the dismissal of the company's vice president, Rulichi
Sujatim.

The workers, who have been camped inside the factory grounds
since the strike began on March 19, were asleep when around 500
unidentified people, armed with machetes, swords and homemade
bombs, arrived in seven buses and attacked the workers.

One of the workers, Kimun Effendi, 21, a resident of Jl.
Kedondong II in Kranji, Bekasi, died from wounds caused by a
homemade explosive thrown at the striking workers during the
attack.

Three other workers who suffered serious injuries in the
attack are still in the hospital. The condition of Njen Jaelani,
who is being treated at Islamic Hospital in Pondok Kopi, East
Jakarta, is improving. Meanwhile, Rachmat Hidayat remained
unconscious as of Saturday at RSCM.

Rahcmat's father, Hadi Pranoto, 50, who arrived at the
hospital from Wates in Yogyakarta on Saturday, said he was
shocked by his son's condition.

"I was just told that my son was sick and hospitalized," he
told the Post.

The father of four said his family was still in grief over the
death of one of Rachmat's younger brothers last month.

One of the company's managers, Jasmin Setiawan, who visited
Rachmat and met with his relatives, said the company would pay
for all of Rachmat's medical expenses.

However, Rachmat's family said they believed the company's
executives were behind the attack.

Company vice president Rulichi and deputy general manager
Amrin Gobel, who were questioned by East Jakarta Police
detectives on Friday, denied any involvement in the attack.

Muchtar Pakpahan of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union
(SBSI) said collusion between businesspeople, security forces,
the bureaucracy and hoodlums had become the trend in putting down
strikes.

Pakpahan said SBSI had urged police to investigate the
company's executives, otherwise there was the risk of an incident
similar to the murder of labor activist Marsinah.

"The New Order regime used to sell this nation through the low
salaries of workers and used TNI (Indonesia Military) personnel
to intimidate workers on the grounds of stability. Now this role
is being filled by businessmen, the police, the bureaucracy and
hoodlums," he told the Post.

He suggested the government do more to enforce Law No. 21 on
the empowerment of labor, which was endorsed by the House of
Representatives this year.

Most workers in disputes with their companies eventually end
mired in deadlock because businesspeople often are backed by the
bureaucracy and security forces, according to a report from the
Jakarta Legal Aid Institute. (01)