Strikes at two factories in Pulo Gadung

JAKARTA (JP): More than one thousand workers from two companies operating in the Pulo Gadung industrial estate, East Jakarta, went on strike yesterday, demanding higher wages and the signing of a collective labor agreement.

Most of the 900 women working for PT Young Indonesia Textile company, a producer of cotton, were on strike for a second day.

Around 300 meters south of the textile factory, 250 laborers from PT Tobu Indonesia Steel company also staged a strike, paralyzing the firm.

Clad in their blue denim uniforms, the workers at the steel producer sat waiting for their leaders who were negotiating with management.

"We want the company to raise our wages Rp 550 for every worker regardless of their present salaries along with 15 percent yearly increases," said Fredrik Langitan, the spokesman for the striking workers.

The steel-rod producer pays its workers Rp 3,800 (US$1.9) per day, the minimum wage.

Langitan asked "What's wrong if we demand higher than that?"

He stressed that the strike, which ended peacefully, was the first in the history of the 20-year-old company.

There were dozens of military, police and plainclothes officers on guard in areas near the factory compound.

Meanwhile female workers of PT Young Indonesia Textile factory booed a police sergeant when he tried to usher the workers out of the factory.

The director of the textile company, Thomas Young, said that the workers demands are surprising since his firm has broken no laws.

Nevertheless, the Hongkong-born director said, "Maybe we're not a 100 percent correct, but we can sit and discuss things together, not through strikes like this."

While waiting for the leaders of the state-sponsored union to negotiate with the management, hundreds of female workers on the street in front of the factory unfurled banners which read, Without a fixed settlement, we will continue the strike" and "Clerks, don't be cowards. Help us. Striking is not a crime.

Other protesters played domino and chess whilst their colleagues turned on the music loudly and danced.

Rasyidi, a protest leader, said that the cotton-cloth producer has not yet provided insurance for its workers as stipulated in the manpower regulations, nor does it pay overtime.

Yesterday evening, executives and workers of both companies were holding negotiations to solve the labor disputes.(09)