Striking employees' pay raised

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)