Shangri-La refuses to bow to ex-workers' demands

JAKARTA (JP): As a group of former Shangri-La workers continued its demonstrations in front of the hotel demanding their jobs back, the hotel management said on Thursday that re- hiring was not a viable option.

The hotel considers as final the decision of the government- sanctioned Central Committee for the Settlement of Labor Disputes in May to allow the Shangri-La to lay off its protesting workers, and therefore considers the prolonged issue to be settled , according to senior manager Wastu Widanto.

The hotel refused to rehire the 81 people as they had violated its working agreement, he said.

An article in the working agreement signed by all of the hotel's workers stipulated that a worker would be subject to dismissal if the person was engaged in any kind of demonstration against the hotel.

A total of 606 workers were in dispute with the hotel over their demands for better working conditions.

They staged a protest in December last year, causing the hotel to halt its operations for three months.

Currently there are 81 ex-workers belonging to the Shangri-La Independent Labor Union (SPSM) who are contesting the Committee's decision as they continue to demand to be rehired, while the rest have opted to resign and receive settlement fees from the hotel.

Valentinus Wagiyo, the leader of the SPSM told The Jakarta Post that, until management agreed to meet them, the SPMS would continue to protest in front of the hotel at least four times a week.

He said the 81 ex-workers were also demanding to have their reputations cleared by the Shangri-La, as they were now facing difficulties in finding jobs elsewhere.

SPSM claimed that the Shangri-La had issued a "black list" containing the names of people who had participated in the demonstrations.

Shangri-La denied the allegation, saying that the hotel would never do such a thing.

Commenting on the demonstration, the Shangri-La said it was not bothered by it, as long as protestors were not entering the hotel's compound.

"It's their right to have a demonstration, we're not the least concerned with it... usually there are just around 12 of them anyway," Wastu remarked.