Bandung – Thousands of workers staged a rally in Bandung on Tuesday in protest of a city administration policy that they feared would trigger mass layoffs.

The rally protested the Bandung municipality's plan to terminate factories' contractual land permits in Kiaracondong to free the land for a business center development project.

"Layoffs would ensue if factory owners failed to relocate and opted to close down their businesses," United Labor Forum head Wagianto said.

Kiaracondong is home to 19 factories, which employ 5,000 workers. Labor representatives and the administration were reported to have been in talks since July 5, but no solution has been revealed.

"We have no certainty about our fate. We are worried about the administration abruptly executing their plan. We would lose jobs and become burdens to the state," Dian Abdi, another worker, said.