Workers march to demand severance pay
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
Some 2,500 of 6,890 former workers of PT Doson Indonesia, a subcontractor of U.S. shoe giant Nike in Tangerang held a rally on Tuesday to demand severance pay, which they claimed had not been paid since the company closed its factory in September.
The workers began their rally at the Tangerang District Court on Jl. Taman Makam Pahlawan Taruna at 10 a.m., and at 11:45 a.m. proceeded to march down Jl. Jendral Sudirman and Jl. MH. Thamrin in Tangerang, to the Serpong tollway.
However, 150 police officers led by Tangerang Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Herry Prastowo managed to disperse the workers after they fired several warning shots at about 2:15 p.m.
Mimin, a female worker fainted as she was shocked by the police warning shot that apparently whizzed past her ear, and she had to be carried away by her fellow workers from the Jakarta- Merak toll road under the Serpong flyover and taken to a nearby hospital.
Djoko, former work unit chairman at PT Doson, said that the workers began their rally at the district court to demand the court to uphold Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea's decree regarding the company.
He said the minister issued decree No 197/X/PHK/2002 on Oct. 1 that had allowed PT Doson to dismiss its workers, but ordered the company to quickly pay severance pay to its 6,890 workers, a compensation fund for workers' housing and any unpaid salaries for work done in September.
"As of today, the district court had not yet implemented the decree, while many workers are now so poor they have resorted to eating nothing more than rice with salt and were behind on their house rent," Djoko told The Jakarta Post.
Bastarial, a staff member at the District Court said that the court had ordered PT Doson's leaders to sell their assets so they would have enough money to pay the workers, but it also had to take into account a judicial review application brought by Doson contesting the decree.
"But the decree cannot yet be implemented because of Jakarta State Administrative Court's ruling No. 165/G.TUN/2002/PTUN.Jakarta, ordering the postpone of the decree's execution in response to PT Doson's suit against the minister's decision," he said.
PT Doson closed its business in September as Nike stopped its shoe orders from the Indonesian firm.
Indonesia Businessman Association's (Apindo) Tangerang branch chairman Herry Rumawatin told The Jakarta Post that so far this year Nike had reduced its orders from its Indonesian subcontractors by some 40 percent.
"We expect the order reduction will go as high as 50 percent later this year, causing thousands more workers to be laid off in Tangerang," he said, adding that there are seven subcontractors, with more than 20,000 workers, of Nike still in operation in the regency.