Jakarta – For the second time this month, hundreds of workers of Sogo department store protested the dismissal of their six colleagues.

The protest was held Thursday in front of the city manpower agency office, to push the city administration to force the company to go back on its decision.

The publicly listed PT Mitra Adi Perkasa (MAP), the holding firm of PT Panen Lestari Internusa, which manages Sogo, had sent notice to the agency of the dismissal of the six.

The company argued that the workers – identified as Juli Arifin, Rocky Darmawangsyah, Ahmad Syaefudin, Syamsurizal, Mutallah and Fimesia Ndraha – refused to be transferred from the department store to the holding company.

The chairman of Sogo's labor union, Palris Jaya, said that 43 employees had been moved to PT Mitra. "Thirty-six of them complied with the order because they were afraid they'd be dismissed, one employee resigned of his own accord and six fought the decision," he said.

"This is a new strategy for management to lay off workers or reduce their welfare stipend." The manpower agency acted as mediator to settle the dispute between PT Panen and the labor union. Representatives of the company declined to comment on the union's demand.