Sutiyoso gives assurance on city employees' wages

Sutiyoso gives assurance on city employees' wages

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso guaranteed yesterday that the
city administration would not withhold or cut salaries of its
employees due to the crisis.

"Don't worry about that.

I can't imagine the government would make such an extreme
decision to reduce or suspend civil servants' salaries," he said.

Rumors have circulated among the workers in recent days that
the city, reeling from depleted revenues, only has sufficient
funds to pay salaries for the next three months.

But Sutiyoso did not state how long the city administration
would be able to pay its 70,000 personnel.

The governor also could not promise how long the city would
pay its "welfare allowance", which includes meal and
transportation fares, to workers.

"In the future, we will probably no longer be able to provide
this allowance, which we have provided up to now."

Another rumor claims the city will use essential goods in
exchange for cash to pay salaries.

In response, Sutiyoso commented: "I don't think it will go
that far."

He admitted his office was facing serious financial
difficulties which had forced it to cut expenses in all sectors,
including overtime allowances.

The city administration's secretary, Fauzi Bowo, said the
overtime allowance was no longer given to employees on the
grounds that there were no current projects.

A female official at the City Council said yesterday the
administration has yet to pay the welfare allowance to her and
her colleagues.

"We are supposed to get about Rp 140,000 (US$14) a month for
the welfare allowance and we usually receive it in the second
week of the month at the latest," said the woman, who asked for
anonymity.

She was disturbed to hear about the possibility of the
administration cutting back or terminating the allowance if the
crisis persisted.

"Please, don't do that to us.

"Does the government expect us to go to work on foot, or
what?"

Cost-cutting measures have included use of telephones and
electricity.

Some telephones at the administration and City Council have
been reprogrammed to only receive incoming calls and make
internal calls.

A middle-ranking employee, who also asked not to be named,
complained the administration's efficiency drive was impinging on
work productivity.

"We have been unable to make outgoing calls since Friday. Our
work here has been terribly difficult ever since. We badly need
the phone to collect information and data from related offices
out there."

An official said last week the administration's public
relations office had drastically decreased expenses, including to
develop pictures taken at official functions.

But a city administration spokesman, Kamaludin Santos, denied
the staff members' complaints about inhibited activities.

He said his office was considered as playing an important role
in the administration's functioning and it still received
adequate funding.

But he admitted his office was required to minimize its
expenses, including for lunch boxes given out to staff and city
hall reporters.

"Maybe we'd better recount the exact number of people to
receive the meals so that we don't have to order fan excessive
number," he said. (cst)