Tangerang – A total of 6,500 employees of PT Dong Joe Indonesia, which produces Reebok sports apparel, have been out of work since the factory owners fled to their home country, Korea.

"Production ground to a halt, though the workers have received no notice of their dismissal," Hasdanil, the head of Tangerang municipality's manpower agency, was quoted as saying by Tempointeraktif news portal Wednesday.

Hasdanil said the closure of the factory on Jl. Raya Rajeg, Pasar Kemis, would not only affect the 6,500 workers, but also thousands of others working at PT Dong Joe's sister companies shoe producer Spotec and ceramics producer Hankook Keramik.

M. Marbun, the head of the agency division that monitors workplace ethics, believes the owners fled to avoid making severance payments.

"The company's managers said there were no indications of bankruptcy," he said.