Tangerang – Around 4,000 workers from four factories in Tangerang yesterday held a strike demanding they be given the new minimum regional wage (UMR) and well as increases in other conditions.

The strike was carried out by around 1,500 workers from the textile industry PT Tri Rempoa Solo (TRS) Ciputat, 900 workers from the PT Grand Kupa (GK) factory and 100 workers from the PT Farmindo Kencana (FK) factory. The three factories are located in the Tangerang industrial zone.

Meanwhile a different strike was carried out by around 1,500 workers from the garment factory PT Jabatex Garmindo (JG).

Since morning, strikers from PT GK and PT JG refused to continue production choosing to gather and sit in the area of the factory along posters full of criticisms of the company's polices. The strike at PT JG was triggered by information that the management would soon shift all of its workers to PT Alfindo Jaya Garmindo located in Cikupa. "We reject the plan to move because of concern that workers must accept the regulations at the new company which are very different", said one PT JG employee.

[Abridged translation from Bisnis - James Balowski]