Workers go on strike for better pay in Palu
Maxi Wolor, The Jakarta Post, Palu
More than 300 workers of the furniture manufacturing company PT Leang Yang in the Central Sulawesi capital of Pulu went on strike on Saturday, demanding higher wages and better working conditions.
The protesters threatened to continue striking until management for the factory, located in Pantoloan, agreed to pay better monthly salaries.
One striker, Maluddin, a seven-year employee, said that ever since minimum wages (UMP) were set by the government at Rp 350,000 per month, PT Leang Yang has still not paid all of its workers, both old and new, the same amount.
He said that he had received a monthly salary of Rp 350,000, like other workers who have been employed over the past year by PT Leang Yang, which produces furnitures for export purposes.
The company does not pay his food and transport allowances, he added.
"It's ridiculous. My wage should be Rp 395,000 a month by now. Before provincial wages were set at Rp 350,000 a month by the government, my salary was only Rp 280,000 a month... how can they do this to us?" Maluddin wondered aloud to reporters.
Oberman, a spokesman for the protesting workers, said that the unequal pay system has caused hostilities between the older and the newer workers.
He added that the company has a total of 315 workers, 116 of whom are senior employees who have worked there for more than five years. "The company is insensitive to the needs of the older workers," Oberman said.
Also representing the workers was Rasyidy Bakri of the Palu Legal Aid Institute (LBH), who said that the company's policy on salary policies was grossly unfair, and that PT Leang was neglecting the issue of wages for worked with seniority on purpose.
PT Leang Managing Director Syafei Datupalinge said on Saturday that he understood why the workers were striking, but added that the reason the company gave workers the same wage was because of its poor financial condition.
He agreed to convey the workers' demands to the company's president commissioner Lee Yuan Jung who was in Taiwan.
He added that, should Lee reject the workers' demands, the case would be forwarded to the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration.
Regarding demands for food allowances, Syafei PT Leang had previously provided workers with lunch, he said. But, he added, after the minimum wages were raised to Rp 350,000 per month, the lunches became a financial "burden" in the view of the company.
Due to the strike, the company has suffered a loss of Rp 15 million, Syafei said; the protests, he added, have also severely hurt the company's exports of furniture to Japan.