Shangri-La workers to sue managers for blocking union
JAKARTA (JP): Striking workers from the Shangri-La Hotel are considering filing a lawsuit against the hotel's management for ignoring their rights of association, the workers' lawyer Surya Tjandra said on Monday.
Surya, the vice director of the Jakarta Legal Institute (LBH), told The Jakarta Post there was ample evidence that the management had prevented the workers from establishing an independent trade union (SPSM), including suspension of the union's leader, Halilintar Nurdin.
The lawyer said many workers, who had been on strike since Dec. 22, were offered reemployment in exchange for their separation from the labor union. The hotel have dismissed 420 SPMS members due to their participation in the strike.
According to Surya, the management could be charged with violating Article 28 of the Worker Union Law No. 21/2000, which carries a jail term of between one and five years, and a fine of between Rp 100 million (US$10,526) and Rp 500 million.
The article also stipulates that failure to pay workers' salaries, the use of intimidation, and campaigning against a labor union could be categorized as violations.
Meanwhile, SPMS spokesman Budi Susanto said the workers' union, hotel management and officials from the Ministry of Manpower would meet with the House of Representatives' Commission VII for population and welfare affairs on Tuesday.
"We hope the House can support our demand as they had earlier promised to us," Budi said on Monday.
He said that the union demanded the management reemploy all of the dismissed SPMS members.
The hotel's management had earlier offered dismissals with compensation, ranging from one and a half to four times the basic salary of each worker.
The lowest-ranked worker, such as a dish washer, was paid Rp 280,000 a month, below the official minimum monthly wage of Rp. 350,000.
Budi said the hotel's management always claimed that the workers were well paid because their wages also included service charges.
"The service charge should not be included in the salary because its our money," he said.
Hundreds of striking SPMS members were removed from the hotel to the Jakarta Police precinct on Dec. 26. They demanded a pension plan and equal distribution of the service charges.
The hotel has suspended operations since the strike.
The union claimed to have registered 900 workers from a total of 1,200 Shangri-La employees.
The union affiliates itself to the International Union of Food, Hotels and Restaurants (IUF).
Lawyer Surya said the IUF promised to pressure the owner of the Shangri-La Hotel chain, Malaysian businessman Robert Kuok, to fulfill the workers' demand.
He said the IUF has donated Rp 20 million as an expression of solidarity with the striking workers.
The international union's headquarter in Sydney Australia has sent letters to President Abdurrahman Wahid and Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Alhilal Hamdi to assist the workers. (jun)