Workers demand higher pay

BANDUNG: Some 500 workers in the Cimahi industrial zone held a protest on Thursday in front the Cimahi regency council, demanding that the administration increase the local minimum wage.

Edi Suherdi, a workers' leader, said the minimum wage in the regency was no longer enough to cover workers' day-to-day expenses as the prices of basic necessities had risen due to the fuel price hikes.

Currently, the local minimum wage is Rp 601,000 a month, while the minimum wage needed was Rp 819,000 said Edi.

The workers demanded that the regency council exert pressure on the administration to force it to raise the minimum wage. -- JP