Workers protest unjust treatment

JAKARTA (JP): At least 150 PT Intermitra Ragamulia Industries's workers protested at the House of Representatives Monday about threats of arbitrary dismissal from their employer.

A delegation of the workers told three members of the Golkar faction the company had decided to move from Tambun, 40 kilometers southeast of here, to Gunung Putri, Bogor, and had ordered all the workers to work at the new site.

H. Suparman, the delegation's head, said the reason for the move was the company was turning its activities in Bekasi to producing shoes, bags, leather jackets, and tents.

"Right now, we are under pressure from the company to move to Bogor and 50 people that rejected the order were suspended, without severance allowance, until further notice," Suparman said.

He said they had opposed the order in a three-day strike last week and demanded an explanation of the move and their future in the new company.

Suparman said the change was planned in December and that the company had unilaterally changed employees' position and rights.

"Some of us who were supervisors were demoted to janitors in the Bogor factory, and those who opposed the policy -- especially the women -- they threatened to throw behind bars," Suparman added.

They were trying to intimidate the workers, he said.

The company, which has headquarters in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, refused to comment on the demonstration.

An official of the company's General Affairs Department told The Jakarta Post he did not know about the strike or the move to Bogor.

An agreement between the Bekasi office management and the unit of the Federation of All Indonesian Workers Unions (SPSI) signed on March 1, said the workers who moved to Bogor would have the same rights as before.

The agreement also said PT Intermitra would provide transport and extra incentives to workers at the new factory. Copies of the agreement were handed out at the House.

IDP. Supartha Nida, of the Golkar faction, told the delegation they would look into the matter and try to find a solution.

He thanked the delegation for registering their complaints with the House.

"We won't tolerate any injustice in this country," he said. (12)