Workers continue protest at House
Workers continue protest at House
JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of workers of a closed down shoe
factory vowed on Friday to continue their sit-in at the People's
Consultative Assembly/House of Representatives compound until
their demand was met, a labor activist said.
Some 3,000 workers of PT Kong Tai Indonesia, who were laid off
last October, have held a sit-in at the compound for five
consecutive days this week, seeking the assistance of legislators
to help them get severance pay from the company.
The workers' representatives talked to Assembly Speaker Amien
Rais, who promised them he would hold a meeting on Monday with
Minister of Manpower Bomer Pasaribu, representatives of House
Commission VI for human resources and an executive of state-owned
social security company PT Jamsostek to discuss the matter.
Amien said that if the discussion ended in a deadlock, he
would ask President Abdurrahman Wahid to help solve the problem.
Amin said he would do this as an ordinary citizen and not in his
capacity as speaker of the Assembly.
Amien advised the workers to be patient until all parties
involved in the discussion could work things out. He promised
them the problem would be solved within a week.
"We cannot wait any longer and neither can the workers. We
will not wait until the situation gets out of control and becomes
sensitive," he told reporters, explaining that some of the
workers had been forced to sell their belongings to support their
families.
Amien told the protesters not to worry because the factory's
assets could be sold and the proceeds used to pay them.
The Committee for the Settlement of Labor Disputes, an
arbitration body tasked with settling disputes between laborers
and company owners, decided on Dec. 3 that each worker was
entitled to receive twice the amount of money stipulated in a
manpower ministry regulation, excluding the obligatory two
months' salary.
The company's Hong Kong shareholders, represented by lawyer
O.C. Kaligis, rejected the decision and only agreed to pay the
amount stipulated in the regulation.
Sarwoto, a labor union official, explained that according to
the committee's decision, the company should pay some Rp 23
billion compensation to the more than 4,600 workers it laid off.
Several laborers told The Jakarta Post that they would
continue their sit-in and spend another night at the House
compound because they had no money to pay for accommodation and
they had no other place to go.
"Some of us will stay here not only because we need a
solution, but also a shelter," one of them said. (06)