Workers complain over Idul Fitri allowance
Workers complain over Idul Fitri allowance
JAKARTA (JP): Twenty workers of PT Inasa Wahana Lestari, a
steel construction company in Kalideres, West Jakarta, filed a
complaint with the City Council yesterday over an unsettled
collective labor agreement.
Yesterday, Dole, the spokesman for the workers, told the
council's Commission E in charge of welfare, that the management
refused to sign the agreement because it included a clause about
the provision of allowances.
Dole said that the company did provide annual allowances to
its workers, but the management was apparently reluctant to
formalize the policy in the agreement.
When the agreement was to be signed on Dec. 10 last year not a
single representative of the management was present, he said.
He added that the executives refused to sign the deal because
they said they had not yet read it.
Dole said the excuse was impossible to accept because
representatives of the workers' union, the West Jakarta chapter
of the Ministry of Manpower and executives of the management had
held a negotiation session on Dec. 2 to discuss the details of
the agreement.
"At that time the executives of the management did not express
any objection to the contents of the agreement," he said.
Dole charged that the refusal to formalize the allowance
provision was mainly because the company intended to apply its
own formula in which the provision of allowances would be
replaced with bonuses to be closely linked with the workers'
performance.
"Such a scheme is unfair because bonuses will only be given to
workers who can finish their tasks according to target set by the
company's regulations. Workers will not get any benefit if they
cannot fulfill the target," he said.
A member of the commission, Salam Sumangat, said that the
members will summon the management to explain the matter.
Meanwhile, 50 workers of PT Duta Busana Danastri, a garment
company in Kemandoran, West Jakarta, filed a similar complaint
with the National Human Rights Commission yesterday over their
firm's failure to give them Idul Fitri allowances as promised.
The workers, led by Siti Nur Rofikoh, met with Baharuddin
Lopa, the secretary-general of the commission.
"The company promised earlier to give each worker an allowance
amounting to two months' worth of salaries. However, the firm
just doesn't want to fulfill the promise. It now says that it
cannot afford it," Siti said.
Siti's claim was immediately denied by the management
yesterday. "We have never made any promise about the provision of
an allowance amounting to two months' pay," Muhammad Thamrin, a
lawyer for PT Duta Busana Danastri, said yesterday.
After hearing the complaint, Lopa urged the workers to try to
settle the matter with the company by asking the management to
pay only one month's salary for the holiday in line with the
existing regulations. "You can file a lawsuit against the company
if it refuses to do that," Lopa said. (yns)