Workers ask for help from rights body

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.
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