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fter going on strike for more than two weeks, nearly 700 workers at a Malaysia-owned cable and wire manufacturer, PT Ho Wah Genting in Batam, Riau Islands, went back to work on Wednesday after reaching an agreement with management.

The agreement was signed on Tuesday after a tripartite negotiation, in which the management agreed to meet all of the workers’ demands regarding the ceasing of employee outsourcing, head of the Batam chapter of the Indonesian Metal Workers Federation (FSPMI) Electronic Workers Union Suprapto said.

Four points were agreed upon, namely: verification to be conducted by the management on employment supervision; recruitment of outsourced workers whose contracts as staff members expire; verification of problematic contracts by the manpower office; and disbursement of payment for striking workers, Suprapto said.

“The strike has ended and all the demands have been met,” he said.

Previously, the 700 workers threatened to go on strike for two months if their demands were not met.

The company’s FSPMI Electronic Workers Union unit head Effendi Parsaoran Sinaga said earlier that there were six outsourcing companies working with the company, which produces extension cords and cables.

The contractual workers do the same work as the permanent workers, whereas in fact the manpower law stipulates that a company can only outsource for jobs outside of the main work of the company.

“We want the contracts of all the outsourcing companies to be terminated. We demand contractual workers be appointed as permanent workers. If our demands are not met, we will strike for the next two months, or until Oct. 14,” said Effendi.

A worker, Raras, said he had worked for the company since 2004. He was recruited through PT Global Area Batam, one of the outsourcing companies affiliated with PT Ho Wah Genting. He has worked for Ho Wah Genting for nearly eight years, but his status is an outsource worker at PT Global Area Batam. “The conditions that I get are different to those of permanent workers, such as transport and meal allowances. This is not fair,” said Raras, a father of two.

Ho Wah Genting human resource development manager Jonathan Sinaga said talks between the management and workers had been underway since early June. Company management allowed workers to strike for two months, in accordance with their rights. The company currently employs 1,200 workers, 700 of them contractual workers and 500 permanent workers.

“Impacts from the strike against company operations are huge. We are forced to turn down orders and reduce production capacity,” said Jonathan.