Employees of mining contractor stage protest in Muaraenim
Saturday, January 13 2001 - 05:00 AM WIB
Around 450 employees of PT Adiputera Dewasajaya (ADP) staged Friday a protest at the Muaraenim House of Representatives in South Sumatera demanding the company to pay salary and other compensation, the local Sriwijaya Post daily reported.
The paper said that some 15 representatives of the protesting employees were received by the House leaders. The protesting employees demanded the parliament to summon ADP president Eddy Hartono as well as the president of the state-owned coal mining company PT Bukit Asam to settle their demands.
ADP is the contractor of Bukit Asam. But since January last year, ADP stopped doing its job at Bukit Asam due to financial difficulties. The paper said that ADP money was blockaded by Bank Universal.
The protesting employees said that because of the dispute with Bank Universal and Bukit Asam, the company had to pay salary lower than the regional minimum level, and had failed to fulfill other rights of the employees.
ADP decided in December to lay off its employees because of the problem. But the protesting employees said that ADP had not paid the employees' salary from November, and had not paid the necessary compensation for the lay off decision.
Meanwhile, the Sriwijya Post quoted ADP lawyers as saying that the company would study the demands of the protesting employees.(*)