Jakarta – About 2,000 workers in Indonesia's two largest cities demonstrated on Thursday to demand higher severance payments from firms struggling with a crippling economic crisis.

Shouting "Money! Money!," about 1,000 workers ranging from former security guards to bank managers gathered outside the office of the National Planning Board in central Jakarta to demand higher severance payments.

The protests are the latest in a series after last month's closure of 38 insolvent banks as part of a programme to restructure the sector, hard hit by the economic crisis.

In Surabaya, 675 km east of Jakarta, about 350 workers of the food giant PT Indofood Sukses Makmur burned used tyres and staged a sit-in outside the company's factory.

Another 400 workers at lightbulb company PT Sinar Chiyoda Indonesia staged a protest in the city's industrial complex. Another 300 workers of bottle maker PT Umbra Prasia protested in an upmarket Surabaya suburb where the company's manager lives.

Dozens of security forces were on hand at all locations but there was no violence. Industrial city Surabaya has been a hotbed of worker protests where employees have staged frequent demonstrations to demand higher wages.