Workers protest unfair severance pay

JAKARTA (JP): A deputation of 217 workers dismissed by construction company PT Jaya Konstruksi Manggala Pratama went to the City Council yesterday to protest their severance pay.

The deputation leader, Wim Kaluara, said the company only gave them a small amount of money without any detailed explanation.

"We were forced to agree to what had been determined by the company, otherwise the severance pay would have been cut by between Rp 200,000 and Rp 400,000 every day," he said.

Wim, who worked as a security officer at the company, said that 227 workers were dismissed on Sept. 30 last year but 10 of them refused to sign the dismissal letters.

He said that the company refused to explain the reasons for the dismissals to the workers, who had worked at the company for between 10 and 33 years.

Wim, who had worked at the construction company for 22 years, received Rp 9 million. He said the amount received by others varied.

Sofyan, who had worked for 15 years, for example, received only Rp 3 million, while Kusnadi, who joined with the company in 1970, got Rp 8 million.

Kusnadi said that he could only get the money in 2003, the year of his retirement. Wim did not say how much money the workers were wanting.

The head of Commission E for welfare affairs, Soeparmo, who received the deputation, promised yesterday to meet with the construction company management and the City Manpower Office to discuss the problem.

The management of PT Jaya Konstruksi Manggala Pratama could not be reached for comment yesterday. (ind)