SPMS to bring dispute to ILO meeting

SPMS to bring dispute to ILO meeting

JAKARTA: Some former employees of Shangri-La hotel will bring
the labor dispute case with the hotel management to the annual
meeting of the International Labor Organization's governing body
on Nov. 14 in Geneva, Switzerland.

Odie Hudiyanto, secretary to the Shangri-La Jakarta
Independent Labor Union (SPMS), told The Jakarta Post that the
ILO's governing body had placed the case on the meeting's agenda.

"This is the first labor dispute case here brought to the
ILO's annual meeting. ILO consider it serious following a verdict
by the South Jakarta District Court concerning the case," Odie
said.

Odie and Isep S. Mubarok will attend the meeting with 3,000
participants from over 100 countries around the world.

Odie claimed the fact that the hotel management refused to
negotiate with SPMS revealed the management's bad faith over the
case.

On Wednesday, the court stated that seven former employees of
the hotel, who were leaders of SPMS, were proven guilty of
organizing strikes and demonstrations against the hotel's
management last year. The management claimed that the action
taken by employees had caused them a loss of US$13 million.

The court ruled that the employees pay some $2 million to the
management and advertise an apology to five local newspapers.

Odie said that their actions had been aimed at improving the
freedom of speech and the welfare of the hotel's workers. --JP