Worker sues arbitration body
Worker sues arbitration body
JAKARTA (JP): A former manager of PT Coca-Cola Indonesia asked
the Jakarta High Court on Thursday to annul a decision by the
Ministry of Manpower's labor arbitration board rejecting his
severance pay demand.
Suryadi Wijono, who worked for Coca-Cola Indonesia from 1980
to 1996, demanded the company give him severance pay equal to 2.5
times his salary. This is the same amount 20 other former
employees received.
"I should have received about Rp 400 million (US$59,701), but
the company only offered me half of this because I took an early
pension," Wijono said.
He said that in April 1996, the firm offered employees who had
worked at the company for 15 years the opportunity to resign with
2.5 times their salary in severance payment, which most of the
employees called the April Package.
Wijono, who was the firm's regional technical manager at the
time, accepted the company's offer, but he was asked to continue
working at the company because his skills were needed.
Then managing director John Brady asked Wijono to join a four-
month training course in Atlanta, the United States, and
Istanbul, Turkey.
Upon returning from the course, Wijono discovered Brady had
been replaced by John Murphy and that his position as technical
manager had been filled by Guy Wollaert.
Wijono was assigned to manage a factory in Cilangkap, West
Java, a move which was seen as a demotion. When Wijono turned
down the position, Murphy offered to assign him to a position he
was not familiar with.
Wijono instead resigned, asking for the severance pay
stipulated in the April Package. This was rejected by the
company.
The dispute was then brought to the regional arbitration board
of the Jakarta office of the manpower ministry, which ruled the
company must give Wijono severance pay equal to 2.5 times his
salary.
Coca-Cola Indonesia appealed the decision to the ministry's
labor arbitration board, which ruled in favor of the company.
Coca-Cola Indonesia spokeswoman Titi Sadarini could not be
reached for comment.(jun)