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)