Workers ask for help from rights body

JAKARTA (JP): Sixty workers, who have been on strike for four days, lodged their grievances yesterday with the National Committee on Human Rights.

The employees of packaging factory PT Maxpos Prima in Tangerang, West Java, asked the commission to reprimand the company for not paying attention to workers' demands, which they perceived to be a violation of human rights.

Their demands include that the company enroll workers in a social security program, that it pays the official minimum wage, as well as recognize workers' seniority and pay long-time employees higher rates.

The workers who waited for four hours before they were received by the commission told The Jakarta Post that they are paid only Rp 3,900 (US$1.75) per day and receive Rp 4,000 for each medical consultation.

Representing 100 workers from the styrofoam division of the company, the strike which begun on Tuesday is the third the workers have staged. The first strike on Apr. 8 involved all 500 workers.

The second strike was on May 14.

Samsir, a spokesman for the workers told the Post that workers are relying on the commission to solve their problems.

"None of us want to prolong this, we want to negotiate but the management won't talk to us," Samsir added.

The workers did not seem to fully understand the mission of the commission.

"You need to understand that we are just a mediator body, not a court whose legal procedures justify their orders," Soegiri patiently told the uneasy workers.

Soegiri said the commission will, however, investigate the workers' claims.

The workers also asked that the commission advise the factory not to dismiss them for striking.

The workers said they had no choice but to turn up for work today. Company rules stipulate that workers who are absent for five consecutive days without notice are considered to have resigned.

Samsir said he and 17 other workers have been dismissed for allegedly instigating unrest among workers and being involved with the unrecognized workers' union, the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union.

When the factory was contacted by the Post, a woman said that no workers had been fired. She refused to comment any further. (14)