J

apanese electronics maker Panasonic says that the figure mentioned in claims made earlier by a labor union about mass layoffs in some of the company'€™s plants is much higher than the actual number.

PT Panasonic Manufacturing Indonesia president director Ichiro Suganuma said his company shut down one plant and terminated the jobs of 425 workers, not two factories and 1,600 workers as reported earlier by the Confederation of Indonesia Labor Unions (KSPI).

Suganuma added that the move was made amid a drop in demand for compact fluorescent lamps in the domestic and Japanese markets.

'€œPeople now prefer LED [light-emitting diode] lamps so we focus on making LEDs now,'€ he said via text message.

Despite the plant closure and layoffs, Suganuma asserted, '€œThe more important thing is that our commitment to the industry remains the same and our investment in LED technology development is still big.'€

Panasonic now runs two lamp factories in Pasuruan, East Java and Cileungsi in Bogor, West Java.

KSPI president Said Iqbal said Tuesday that the firm'€™s two factories in Pasuruan, East Java and Cikarang, West Java, were closed in January and February respectively and the jobs of 1,600 workers were terminated.

The KSPI also reported on the planned layoff of 900 workers by television producer PT Toshiba Consumer Products Indonesia in Cikarang in April.

Toshiba clarified that the actual figure was 360 workers were being laid off, which was lower than the union'€™s report.

According to Toshiba, it had to terminate the jobs of its permanent workers as the company located in Cikarang produced well under its capacity last year because of a drastic drop of demand for televisions in the Middle East, one of its export destinations.

'€œThe site only produced 30,000 TVs out of a maximum 350,000 capacity,'€ said a Toshiba executive who refused to be named.

Separately, Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) head Franky Sibarani said that the board was currently seeking formal clarifications from both Panasonic and Toshiba about the matter.

'€œWe can facilitate them to improve competitiveness, such as by issuing any necessary policy and coordinate with the relevant ministries,'€ Franky said Thursday.

He also said that investment in the electronics industry remained promising despite the reported layoffs.

BKPM data shows principal permit investments in the industry were recorded at Rp 530 billion (US$38.4 million), an 85 percent increase year on year.

Earlier on Wednesday, Manpower Minister Muhammad Hanif Dhakiri lamented that the report came first from the workers union instead of the companies.

'€œActually in our system, we require companies to report any layoff plan to either us or the regional manpower agency,'€ he said.

'€œWe cannot rely on labor unions that are not in their capacity to provide the reports. However, we use the information as a tip-off subject to further follow-up,'€ he added. Hanif said the report made by the KSPI about the total number of people laid off in 2015 was higher than the ministry data. The ministry data shows 48,843 people lost their jobs last year, as compared to the KSPI'€™s claim of 50,000. The ministry data also recorded that in 2014, the number of the laid-off workers amounted to 77,687. (rbk)