Shangri-La has lost Rp 18b from strike

JAKARTA (JP): A lawyer of the Shangri-La Hotel in Central Jakarta said on Friday that the five-star hotel had been suffering Rp 18 billion (US$1.8 million) in revenue losses since it halted its operations on Dec. 22, 2000.

The hotel had been unable to operate following a continuing strike by some 500 employees from Dec. 22 until Dec. 26. As of Friday, the hotel remains closed to guests.

"The figure excludes damages to the hotel facilities and food and beverages consumption, compensations claimed by customers and the immaterial losses which have yet to be totally calculated," lawyer Maqdir Ismail told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

Maqdir said that although the hotel management's staff have started to resume their duties, the hotel's operation was still halted and the building still guarded by police.

He said the hotel management has yet to decide when it can resume operations because negotiations between the management and striking workers was still underway.

The hotel management, he said, would give two options of settlement to the striking workers, either by asking for resignation or settling the dispute through a third party.

"If they reject resignation, then the dispute will be brought to a tripartite meeting, involving the Ministry of Manpower," Maqdir said.

Despite difficulties in identifying the 500 striking employees, the hotel management has listed at least 110 workers who might be dismissed.

"The 110 workers were those evacuated by the police from the hotel building on Dec. 26," the lawyer said.

Maqdir said most of the 110 workers had expressed their willingness to work at the hotel again. But the management has rejected their proposal.

"We are still negotiating for a fair settlement," he said.

The Dec. 22 strike by some 500 hotel employees, mostly from the Food & Beverage, Room Service, Engineering and Security units had forced the management to evacuate the hotel room guests to another neighboring hotel.

The 32-story Shangri-La on Jl. Karet Pasar Baru Timur in Central Jakarta has 668 rooms and suites.

The strike was triggered by a prolonged dispute concerning several matters, particularly their service charges, pension fund, and the suspension of Shangri-La workers' union chairman Halilintar Nurdin.

Earlier, Halilintar and his fellow workers said that they had at least 12 demands that they wanted the hotel management to endorse.

They include a pension fund, equal distribution of service charges, not based on seniority and job level, a THR (holiday allowance) worth four times their monthly salary, and the lifting of Halilintar's suspension.

Halilintar said his union had 900 members out of the hotel's total workforce of some 1,150. (01)