Women workers

I would like to thank The Jakarta Post for publishing the result of my survey (April 17, 1996). However, the Post has misinterpreted some of the data, and thus a correction is needed to avoid misunderstanding.

1. The responses from respondents revealed that the degree of "company compliance" in terms of menstrual leave, breast feeding facilities and overtime payment is still low (I did not mention maternity and annual leave).

2. I did not say that there are cases in which the company dismissed the workers who had taken menstrual leave. The survey discovered that the company would give double payment to the worker who worked during the menstrual days. But the company does not pay the worker who takes menstrual leave.

3. My data indicates that 70 percent of the respondents work overtime, 40 percent of which work 12 hours overtime a week. Half of the respondents said that the company obliges the workers to work overtime. The Post's way of presenting the data could bias the information and conclusion.

4. In fact, I said that in general each worker's knowledge of labor law is low.

MEDELINA K. HENDYTIO

CSIS, Jakarta