Siemens responds

Siemens responds

This is in response to the letter by a Siemens employee to The Jakarta Post concerning Siemens' management.

As it can be necessary for a project office, we sometimes hire people for a certain period of time to fulfill a special task. This is applicable for expatriates as well as Indonesian staff. In general however, we hire Indonesian staff on a long-term basis. Should they not fulfill the job they have applied for we use the possibility allowed by Indonesian law and our company work regulation (KKP), to release such people within their probation time.

In the Siemens organization in Indonesia a labor union is, of course, established. The Siemens Telecommunication Project Office always follows the agreements reached between the labor union and Siemens. Should there be the need to implement a separate labor union in the Siemens Telecommunication office, we are open any time to such a wish.

As a general trend, companies employ only people necessary for their main business. Supporting services like cleaning personnel, drivers, etc. are rented from specialized companies. Within Siemens only qualified companies are contracted for such purposes.

The Siemens Telecommunication Project Office employs at the moment two expatriate ladies with the following qualifications: One graduated from the Technical University in Munich, Germany in the field of electronics, holding the title Diplom-Ingenieur (master of science). The second holds bachelor of science from the Universities of Anger and Caen, France, for business management, and acts as a software engineer. Documentation of the above mentioned qualifications is available as proof at any time.

The salary structure and the yearly salary increment of the Siemens Telecommunication Project Office follows the agreement of Siemens and the labor union.

Siemens has been established in Indonesia for more than 100 years. Our intention is to intensify not only our relationship with Indonesia but also our investment here. At the moment, Siemens has roughly 1,000 employees. The Siemens Telecommunication Project Office has increased its staff over the last one to two years by almost 100 local experts.

We do believe that the author of the above mentioned letter has misinterpreted subjects, university degrees, etc.

Please be assured that Siemens Indonesia and its management is always prepared to discuss and solve frictions among staff and management in an amicable way, and thankfully takes every opportunity to discuss personal relationships in an open and frank manner.

Dr. K. Pfeiffer

Representative of Siemens AG

Jakarta

Note: We asked Siemens to respond to the reader's letter immediately.

-- Editor