Regent hotel employees want their fate decided

Regent hotel employees want their fate decided

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Life for Heri, 35, has become increasingly uncertain. After
waiting one year for his job to resume, he has received no
assurance that the hotel which he works for will reopen in the
near future. Worse still, he does not know if he will be
receiving his full salary in the coming months.

Heri and the other 725 employees of the Regent Hotel in
Kuningan, South Jakarta, have been in the dark about when the
hotel will resume operations after it was closed in early 2002
when a devastating flood inundated part of the building.

Severe flooding badly damaged the hotel's ground floor and
basement, and repairs have been very costly. Three power
generators and about 100 electric panels were damaged by the
flood. However, it was the hotel's ballroom in the basement --
complete with luxury furnishings -- that was the worst hit.

"We are tired of waiting. The hotel's shareholders have to
decide quickly whether they will reopen or just shut the hotel
down.

"If they do decide to lay us off, then they have to give us a
decent severance package," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The owner of the hotel, PT Permadani, pledged to reopen the
hotel sometime in May, June or August 2002. But until now, there
have been no signs that the hotel will resume operations and put
its employees back to work.

In fact, some employees believe that the likelihood of the
hotel reopening grows smaller with each passing day.

An employee, who wished to remain anonymous, said the hotel
management was no longer paying the workers' full salaries since
October of last year.

He said that the hotel owner is apparently having financial
problems, adding: "The management has not paid us additional pay
of Rp 800,000 (US$88). We are only receiving our basic salary and
it is often paid late."

He was quick to add that during the early months of the
suspension, the hotel management was kind enough to fulfill all
their obligations.

"I have calculated that from October 2002 to March 2003, the
management owes each worker about Rp 5 million in salaries and
bonuses," he said.

Uncertainty about their employment status, he said, had also
made it difficult for most of his fellow employees to find other
jobs elsewhere.

"Although we no longer work on a regular basis, we are
officially on the hotel's payroll.

"This means that we cannot apply for full-time work at other
hotels in the city," he said, adding that a number of his
colleagues were working part-time as waitresses and motorcycle
taxi (ojek) drivers.

Iqbal, the chairman of the hotel's labor union, said that all
the employees were aware of the fact that the hotel owner was
having difficulty in getting compensation from the insurance
company for the losses incurred by the flooding.

"We know that they need the compensation to resume operations,
but that doesn't mean the owner can disregard what we are going
through," he said.

Separately, Fahmi Idris, one of the shareholders, said that
reopening the hotel would depend heavily on the amount of
compensation awarded by the insurance company.

"We are now in negotiations with the insurance company about
the final settlement, and the workers' problems will be dealt
with pending the outcome of the negotiations," Fahmi told the
Post.

Fahmi, who is a former manpower minister and also a prominent
member of the Golkar party, said that the insurance company, PT
Ramayana, had so far paid out only US$3.5 million in
compensation, far below the US$35 million claimed by the hotel
owner.

"We are seeking alternative sources of money so that the hotel
can reopen soon."