A long-running industrial dispute in Indonesia has come to an end. The Shangri-La Hotel has settled with 80 former workers, who have been picketing the five-star hotel in Jakarta since being sacked in December 2000. The dispute attracted the attention of unions world-wide and at one point drew in the World Bank for criticism. Indonesian union leaders say the dispute showed up holes in the country's labour laws which they say haven't been remedied by the recent passing of a new law. The end of the dispute coincides with the announcement of the Shangri-la's first foray into the hotel business in Australia.
Transcript:
Snowdon: More than two years ago, pay negotiations at the five-star Shangri-La hotel in Jakarta broke down.
The union leader was sacked and when the workers went on strike in his support, the hotel sacked all 580 of them, locked them out and called the police. Several unionists ended up in jail overnight but were not charged.
The hotel was closed for two months and re-opened with a new workforce.
500 of the workers accepted a pay-out but another 80 held out for their jobs, despite their strike and picketing being branded illegal by the District Court.
More than two years later they don't have their jobs back, but believe the battle on principle was worth it.
Speaking from Bandung with the help of an interpreter is Eddi Hudiyanto, the Secretary of the Shangri-La Hotel Workers Union.
Hudiyanto: "While we did not achieve our demands for reinstatement, our members nevertheless consider the outcome as a significant and excellent achievement. Considering the odds stacked against us and the difficulties we had to overcome, we are satisfied with the outcome."
Snowdon: The final settlement between the strikers and the hotel included a payout for each employee worth about four years of their basic pay and the Hotel agreeing to drop a two-million US dollar claim for damages against the union.
Eddi Hudiyanto says the dispute was longer and harder than it should have been, and he says the blame lies with Indonesia's industrial relations system.
Hudiyanto: "We were outraged by the injustice of what happened to us. We showed clearly that our struggle was a struggle for justice, for the union rights. The existing institutions in Indonesia for example, the dispute resolution mechanism and industrial relations were useless. We had no choice; we showed that those who gave up early got only a pitiful a small portion of what we got eventually. The management attitude towards us was take it or leave it."
Snowdon: The Shangri-La luxury hotel chain spreads throughout Asia. Its settlement with the Jakarta unionists was finalised on the 7th of March. On the 26th of March the group announced its first contract in Australia – to manage the five-star ANA Hotel in Sydney.
Beyond a brief written statement saying the dispute was satisfactorily resolved, the Shangri-La had no further comment for this story.
Shangri-La is majority owned by the Kuok Group, the empire of the Malaysian sugar and property tycoon, Robert Kuok. The dispute went so far to at one point draw in the President of the World Bank when he was lobbied on behalf of the sacked workers by the Australian Council of Trade Unions. The Bank had extended to the consortium building the Jakarta Shangri-La a multi-million dollar loan, despite the wealth of its owners.
Indonesia has recently enacted a new Labour Law and while Eddi Hudiyanto says the Shangri-La dispute helped forge some of its changes, he believes the new Labour Law is more anti-union than its predecessor.
Hudiyanto: "So the main problem is that because the system of industrial disputes and settlement in Indonesia is quite corrupt. The new act is worse because in the new act the government undermines the role of the union to take care of their membership in each industrial dispute."