Workers ask for dismissal

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi: Nineteen workers at PT Rotan Sulawesi, a subsidiary of the Poleko group of companies owned by business tycoon and human rights campaigner A.A. Baramuli, have asked to be sacked and demanded compensation.

The workers from the departments of shipping, production, warehouse, finance and security have been inactive since Dec. 11 following a decline in productivity. They have not received their salaries or other benefits.

"It would be better if the company just fired us than let us go on like this for months," one of the workers said. "We have families to feed. If they fire us, they would have to pay us severance money."

The 19 workers have been employed at the company from six to eight years.

The company's personnel officer, Saidy, said the managers have decided to "make the workers nonactive," citing high production costs. He said the company would pay the workers' salaries as soon as "the money from the central office is here". (30/swe)