Workers protest KDI's closure

SURABAYA: Some 1,000 workers of PT Kyung Dong Indonesia (KDI) marched to the East Java legislative council on Thursday to protest the company's closure due to financial difficulties.

The protesters said some 3,000 workers had been laid off by the South Korean company in February after it decided to close, even though the manpower minister had ordered it to delay the closure.

"KDI has treated us arbitrarily. We will fight it to the last drop of blood," one demonstrator told the crowd.

Protest leader Sugeng Prayitno said the reason for the massive layoff was unacceptable because the company had not been declared bankrupt. -- JP