Standard Chartered Bank negotiates with labor union
Standard Chartered Bank negotiates with labor union
JAKARTA (JP): Negotiations are continuing between the All
Indonesian Workers Union and the British-based Standard Chartered
Bank regarding the number of workers to be dismissed, as a result
of bank restructuring, and the amount of severance money to be
paid.
Sihotang, who heads the union at Standard Chartered, told The
Jakarta Post yesterday that neither of the two issues had been
resolved as yet.
"We are still striving to have our demands met," Sihotang
said, adding that the specter of a mass dismissal had been
present since last November.
Priyo Mulyadi of the bank's trade and finance department said
that the dismissal of its employees was, mainly, a result of the
company's decision to introduce new technology which, he said,
eliminated a number of jobs.
"The new technology reduces the amount of clerical work so
that fewer clerks are needed," he said. The bank also plans to
remove the duties of the internal control department of Jakarta's
branch from here to its Hong Kong branch.
Priyo added that the Hong Kong branch would directly supervise
all the internal control departments of the bank's branches in
Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand and Indonesia.
Standard Chartered operates five branch offices in Indonesia,
including one in the Atria Square building in Central Jakarta.
Priyo said that the management had decided that the employees
to be dismissed who are not members of the union would each
receive 3.7 times the number of years they have worked for the
bank multiplied by their last month's salary.
"However, the union is still trying to push the management
into giving the employees who are union members at least six
times the number of years of their employment multiplied by their
last month's salary," he said.
As of yesterday, the bank had not yet revealed the number of
employees which it intends to dismiss.
Priyo said he expected that the bank would announce the number
to be dismissed, as well as the severance pay it is offering,
today.
Another representative of the bank, Ria Jamal, confirmed in a
telephone interview with the Post that the negotiations had not
yet been concluded. However, she refused to provide any further
comment.
"For the time being we have no other comment," she said.
Conflict between the management of the bank and its staff
occurred in early 1994, when around 200 of the bank's 350 Jakarta
employees went on strike, from Jan. 13 to 14.
The strike was triggered by stalled talks on a collective
labor agreement, which was originally scheduled to be signed in
October, 1993.
The strikers claimed that the allowances paid by the bank for
leave, medical care and their pension funds were lower than those
paid by other foreign banks in the city. The protesters' claims
were denied by the banks.
During the 1994 strike, the workers also demanded that their
expense allowances (tunjangan kemahalan) be maintained in the
face of inflation. No report on the result of the strike was
available. (mas)