Shangri-la dispute continues

Shangri-la dispute continues

JAKARTA: The management of Shangri-la hotel in Jakarta has
denied that the International Labor Organization (ILO) had
ordered it to reemploy former workers dismissed after a strike
last year.

In a hearing with the Committee of Freedom Association, ILO
received a recommendation for the reemployment of the workers,
but the Employers Group Forum had countered it, according to a
statement issued by the hotel management on Saturday.

The hotel says it is open to any effort to settle the dispute
and has pledged that it will not use force against the former
workers.

On Friday, in a meeting with the hotel management and the
former workers, minister of manpower and transmigration called on
both parties to settle the case amicably. He said the ILO could
not interfere in the case because it was a domestic affair.

In December last year, 580 Shangri-la workers staged a
demonstration against the management, which resulted in the
dismissal or resignation of almost all of them. When about 80
people insisted on being reemployed, the hotel sued seven of
them. The district court last month ordered the seven workers to
pay US$2.2 million, or more than Rp 20 billion. --JP