Striking employees' pay raised

JAKARTA (JP): The president of the state-owned ship building company PT. PAL Indonesia, B.J. Habibie, finally gave in to striking workers and announced salary increases for 4,000 employees of the Surabaya-based company.

Employees at the dockyard in Surabaya have been on strike since Oct. 30.

Antara reported that Habibie, in a 90-minute meeting with 200 employee representatives, announced that the 3,282 workers included in employee grades VIII through to XVI would be given a Rp 66,000 (US$19.40) hike in their basic monthly salary.

Employees in grade IV to VIII, 917 people, will be given a Rp 40,000 raise, while those in grade III, 37 people, will be given a Rp 15,000 increase.

Habibie, who is also State Minister of Research and Technology, further announced that there would be increased welfare benefits such as a Rp 50,000 higher ceiling for hospital expenses per night.

The PT PAL strike came after an earlier strike at the state- owned aircraft manufacturing company PT IPTN last month also resulted in employees getting a pay rise.

Habibie is also president of IPTN. (mds)