Shangri-La has lost Rp 18b from strike

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)