Workers ask for minimum wage

Workers ask for minimum wage

JAKARTA (JP): Workers from PT Maditra Inti Ragam, a garment company in Pinang-ranti, East Jakarta, filed a complaint with the City Council on Thursday alleging non-payment, on the part of the company, of salaries and the mandatory religious holiday payment.

A spokesman for the workers told the council's Commission E, which is responsible for people's welfare, that the firm had failed to pay the salary due to them under the new minimum wage regulations. They were also yet to receive, they claimed, the payment equivalent to one month's wages due to them each year at religious holidays, including Idul Fitri and Christmas.

The workers also urged the company's management to allow them to form a workers' union.

The workers were received by H. Atje Muljadi, the commission's chairman, who assured them that the commission would summon the company's management to seek an explanation.

A ministerial decree, issued in September last year, stipulates that companies are obliged to give their workers the equivalent of one month's salary a week prior to the major annual religious holidays of Indonesia's five permitted religions.

The company's director, Amir Hamzah, told The Jakarta Post yesterday that the workers' complaints were justified.

"But our financial situation at present is extremely poor. In fact, I would say that we are on the brink of bankruptcy, to tell you the truth," he said, adding that he had reported his company's financial problems to the Ministry of Manpower. (31)