Workers set to sue firms over salaries

BEKASI, West Java (JP): The Local All-Indonesian Workers Union Federation (FSPSI), representing almost 700 employees from two factories, will file suit against the managements for failing to pay the workers' wages and severance pay as promised.

Rahmat Abdullah, secretary of the Bekasi FSPSI, said yesterday the legal step was considered the best option after the managements ignored FSPSI's requests to settle the lingering disputes with the workers.

The two factories were PT Poong Ill Jaya, a garment factory, and PT Button & Thread Mutiara Herni Hardi which produced button and thread.

Abdullah said the managements claimed the businesses went bankrupt in March so the workers would get no more salaries. The workers said they had not received their February salary so had not been paid for two months.

Believing the managements had acted unfairly, the disgruntled workers looked to FSPSI and the office of Manpower Ministry for help.

The case was then handled by the Ministry's arbitrary body (P4P), which asked the managements to give the workers their two- months salary and severance pay. The agreements were signed by the managements and workers' representatives in July.

"The managements have apparently broken their promise. They have not yet paid the workers' salaries and severance pay, and have ignored FSPSI's summons three times," Abdullah said.

Abdullah said he had told the managements Nov. 8 would be the deadline for them to fulfill the agreement or FSPSI would bring the case to the court. "They did not appear until this afternoon," he said.

One of the workers, Sumiaty, 29, said she was still waiting for the payment. She said her employer owed her Rp 2 million (US$851). She said she had worked for the garment factory for three years.

She urged FSPSI to settle the dispute immediately so the workers could receive their salaries and severance pay because "many of us are still jobless."

She said Poong Ill Jaya was established in 1991 and had exported their products to the United States and South Korea.

The two companies managements were not available for comments. (kod)