Restaurant employees in a stew over dismissal

JAKARTA (JP): Thirty employees of a Japanese restaurant on Jl. Melawai in South Jakarta visited the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute on Wednesday to seek legal advice over their dismissal.

The group's spokesman, Floresaka, said they had refused the severance pay offered by PT Cahaya Lumindo, the management of Ai dan Tamu restaurant.

"The payment is only half that given to 25 workers who were dismissed last month," he said.

Floresaka said the restaurant closed in September, allegedly due to a drastic slump in the number of customers.

Twenty five employees were then dismissed in October, followed by 30 more earlier this month.

However, Floresaka said that the employees, who had each worked at the restaurant for an average of seven years, had a different theory about the reason behind their dismissal.

They believe their dismissal was the result of a demonstration staged by the workers outside the restaurant in October, he said.

During the protest, the employees demanded that the management enroll them on the Jamsostek social security insurance scheme.

They also protested the restaurant management's policy of cutting two days' pay for every one day they were absent from work, Floresaka recalled.

The workers then took their grievances to the Ministry of Manpower on Jl. Gatot Subroto to seek official support for their cause.

"We were probably fired after the management received a warning letter from the ministry," he said.

Company executives could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Dyah Ariani from the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, who is representing the dismissed employees, said she would invite the company's executives to a meeting to discuss the matter next week.

"The employees are only demanding to be treated in accordance with manpower regulations," Dyah said without giving any further details. (jun)