PT Maspion meets striking workers' demands

PT Maspion meets striking workers' demands

JAKARTA (JP): Two weeks of daily labor protests in Sidoarjo,
near the East Java capital of Surabaya, has forced the management
of PT Maspion electronics and plastic manufacturer to raise
allowances as demanded by its workers.

Director General of Industrial Relations and Labor Standards
Syaufii Syamsuddin said here on Thursday that after intensive
negotiations organized by the East Java Ministry of Manpower on
Wednesday, the management agreed to raise workers' transportation
allowance to Rp 6,500 a month from Rp 1,500 and meal allowance to
Rp 2,000 from Rp 1,000 a day.

"All workers have returned to the factory, and there's no
strike today (Thursday)," he told the media at his office on
Thursday.

More than 20,000 Maspion workers staged a series of violent
rallies in Sidoardjo over the past two weeks to air their
demands. On Wednesday, several strikers and security personnel
were injured in a scuffle.

Also on Thursday, Syaufii said the recent dismissal of
temporary workers of private TV station RCTI could not be upheld
as it was against the 1964 law on worker dismissal.

"I will handle the case after receiving official complaints
from the dismissed workers," he said.

The law stipulates that companies must obtain permission from
a provincial Committee for the Settlement of Labor Disputes (P4D)
if it wishes to fire between two and nine workers, and permission
from the Central Committee for the Settlement of Labor Disputes
(P4P) if it wishes to dismiss 10 or more workers.

Christina Rini Yuliarti, a lawyer from the Indonesian Legal
Aid Foundation (YLBHI), concurred and said she was ready to
represent the dismissed workers in a lawsuit against the
management.

"The one-sided dismissal is invalid because it is against the
law," she said.

Dozens of RCTI contract employees lodged complaints with the
YLBHI early this week over their dismissal, demanding the
management reemploy them.

Meanwhile, Minister of Manpower Fahmi Idris said his office
would investigate a reported insurance scam by national airline
PT Garuda Indonesia.

"We will investigate the case thoroughly," he said here on
Thursday.

Hundreds of more than 3,000 dismissed workers of Garuda
Indonesia lodged complaints with the ministry on Wednesday over
the alleged scam by the Garuda management.

Hamdani Aziz, chairman of the newly established Communications
Forum for Retired Garuda Employees (FKPGA) told The Jakarta Post
on Thursday that hundreds of employees recently dismissed by
Garuda had been paid much smaller pensions by state-owned PT
Jamsostek than were entitled to.

"Many others have also complained that their wages were cut
monthly by a certain amount for the insurance program but they
had never been registered in the insurance program," he said.

According to a 1992 law on social security, workers are
required to pay 4 percent of their monthly wage in premiums for
the pension fund program. (rms/nur)