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Four injured and 7 cars damaged as workers attack a shipyard company
Four people were wounded, while seven cars were damaged when dozens of workers at the PT USDA Seroja Jaya Shipyard, owned by Wilmar Group, in Batam, Riau Islands, attacked the companyâs office and looted its assets on Saturday
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our people were wounded, while seven cars were damaged when dozens of workers at the PT USDA Seroja Jaya Shipyard, owned by Wilmar Group, in Batam, Riau Islands, attacked the company's office and looted its assets on Saturday.
The clash is believed to have been triggered by the workers disagreement over the company's new policy.
Herbert Marbun, a worker, said it started when the company established a Discipline Committee to manage the workers' working hours, meal and transport budget.
He said that the committee had issued a new policy, which was deemed to have scrapped the workers' rights. The workers, he said, only get a meal budget of Rp 5,500 (50 US cents) per day, while other workers in other similar companies take home at least Rp 8,000 daily.
As for the transport budget, the workers get Rp 6,000 per day, while they have demanded to get Rp 10,000 per day.
The workers, Herbert went on, were also angry because they had often reported theft cases to the management, but they received no response.
'The workers came to the office, but the members of the Discipline Committee were hiding. This had sparked the workers' anger and they later attacked the office and damaged the cars parked there,' said Herbert.
'The clash only took place for around 30 minutes. No one stopped the workers. I myself was just watching the incident. I could not forbid my fellow workers to not launch the attack,' he added.
A guard at the PT USDA Seroja Jaya Shipyard, Alexander, said that dozens of the company's staffers were running for their lives when the incident occurred.
'A staffer member at the safety division, named Irens, sustained a head injury after being hit by a worker with a helmet,' said Alexander.
Three other victims suffered injuries from broken glass. All the four victims were later taken to the Santa Elizabeth hospital for further treatment.
All workers at the company chose to go home after the incident took place, while the staffers were back to the office to clean up the mess.
An employee at the purchasing division, Panti, said that the incident was mainly caused by the workers' complaint on the theft of their working tools.
'The workers filed a report to a security guard, but they did not receive good response [from the guard].
'The guard was reportedly impolite. The workers were angry and launched the attack with their fellow workers. As for the issue with the Discipline Committee, well, it's not a big thing,' said Panti.
Another purchasing staff, Trini Susanawati, said she was hiding in another room when the incident took place.
'It was just a miscommunication between the management and workers,' said Trini, while gathering the scattered documents in the office.
Batam City Manpower Agency head Zarefriadi said he had communicated with the management of the PT USDA Seroja Jaya on the possible cause of the incident.
'Workers blamed the Discipline Committee [for setting the new policy], but the management said that committee only had the authority to determine working hours [not the meal and transport budgets]. The company claimed that the committee did not limit the workers' rights,' said Zarefriadi.
Zarefriadi said that his agency and the company had decided to hand over the case to the police.
'As for the workers' demand, it would be resolved after the police finished their investigation,' he continued.
