Bekasi – Thousands of workers grouped in the National Labor Union (SPN) and the Federation of Democratic Workers took to the streets Wednesday to protest the revised 2003 Manpower Law.

Staging their protest outside the Bekasi Council building, the workers demanded the councillors protect their rights.

"It is time we workers stood up against regulations that diminish our rights to improved welfare and legal protection," said Ngadimin, head of the Bekasi chapter of SPN.

Most workers nationwide have rejected the revised law, which gives employers the right to deny them severance pay.

Council deputy speaker Dadang Asgar Noor said the council would ask the central government to annul the law and was behind the workers all the way.