Road sweepers stage protest

BANDUNG: More than 1,600 sanitation agency workers went on strike here on Wednesday leaving more than 8,000 cubic meters of garbage piled up in several places in the West Java capital of Bandung since Tuesday.

The protesters, including road sweepers and drivers of garbage trucks, demanded Rp 100,000 increase in their monthly salary.

Dedi Sutardi, a garbage truck driver, said the workers receive an average of between Rp 109,000 and Rp 194,000 in basic salary, while the take-home pay is between Rp 250,000 and Rp 440,000 per month. "The amount of money is not commensurate with our daily working hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m."

Workers also questioned the milk allowance of Rp 9,100 which they have never received. They also wanted to know about the Rp 200 "donation" taken from their monthly salary for the Civil Servants Corps (Korpri).

The agency management finally agreed to increase the basic salary of the workers by Rp 50,000 per person, meaning that the agency has to allocate another Rp 147 million per month in salaries. (25/sur)