Legislature mediates Animale's industrial dispute

Irawaty Wardany ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Wed, 07/23/2008 10:53 AM  |  Bali

The Bali provincial legislative council plans to summon the executives of PT Mitra Garment Indoraya, which produces clothing for the well-known Animale brand, to help mediate the prolonged industrial dispute with their workers.

"We will hold a meeting on Thursday morning on this matter. We have invited company management, the local manpower and transmigration office and the workers' representatives or union," chair of the council's commission on labor and social affairs Ketut Karyasa Adnyana said Monday.

The commission called for mediation in response to a request by the workers' spokesperson, Ichsan Tantowi, late last week.

Ichsan asked the councilors to intervene after the workers failed to secure any satisfying concession from the company.

"The workers' demand for higher payment is natural since their payments were recently reduced," Karyasa Adnyana told The Jakarta Post.

After a series of strikes and negotiations, the workers increased their demand, asking for a status upgrade from contract workers to permanent employees.

"However, the company's management refused to meet the demand, stating the workers have gone out on strikes which have inflicted huge losses on the company," he said.

Karyasa Adnyana expected the Thursday meeting could lead to an acceptable solution so the matter would not have to be settled through the Industrial Relations Court.

"The legal process will take a very long time and will inflict losses on both sides," he said.

The company workers have been on a two-week work stoppage to protest unfair treatment by the company.

An employee, Ayu, said the piecework payment was being reduced from Rp 7,000 (US 76 cents) to Rp 3,000.

"The problem is the monthly regional minimum wage (UMR) is increasing every year while the payment per piece from the company is decreasing, which makes it difficult for us to meet the UMR's target," she said.

Denpasar's monthly minimum payment is currently at Rp 800,000 (US $87.50).

"That means we have to finish at least 38 pieces every day to get paid Rp 800,000," she said.

She added, to meet the target, they often could not even go to the toilet because they didn't want to waste their working time. The company has threatened to fire workers who failed to reach their target, without any severance payment.

"The company also has another policy; workers once fired can be rehired but they start at the bottom of the corporate ladder," she said.

She said the company, which produces the Animale clothing line, turns over up to Rp 7.3 billion every 10 days, yet it failed to pay sufficient attention to its workers' welfare.

A representative of the company had previously said the company had suffered Rp 7.3 billion in financial losses during the strike because it could not fulfill its international orders.

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