Multa Fidrus, Banten – After being laid off in September along with 416 other workers by the same company in Serang, Prihatini, 36, said Saturday she had lost hope of finding employment.

"I have to feed my children. They also go to school and they need money for school fees, and I have no husband," she told The Jakarta Post.

Just a month after the layoff, the mother of three began to work at a massage parlor on Jl. Raya Serang. She said the massage job provided decent income if she served the requests, which were sometimes outside her job description, from the guests.

"But I still want to find another job and earn money for my children in respectable way. I can't stand being regarded as a sex slave even though I always refuse any indecent requests," she said.

Mutiara, 24, another worker who was laid off by a factory on Jl. Raya Serang last month, can be considered luckier than Prihatini because she has a motorcycle and can use it as an ojek (motorcycle taxi).

"It's not easy to earn Rp 20,000 a day because there are too many ojek drivers and we have to scramble for passengers," she said, adding that her wage at the textile factory was more than Rp 30,000 per day.

Maruhum, 34, who shares a rented house with four fellow workers in Ciujung Damai housing complex, Serang, said he preferred to wait until the situation was better, hoping the company where he worked would employ him again. "I'm sure the global financial crises will soon end," he said.

The real impact of the ongoing global financial crises has caused a number of industrial firms in Banten to lay off thousands of workers.

Data at the Banten Manpower Agency showed that four garments in Serang had laid off workers over the past three months due to declining orders from overseas.

PT Panca Plaza Indo Tekstil, PT Sugih Brother, PT Pancawira Brother and PT Grand Pintalan are four industrial firms that laid off 386, 429, 365 and 417 workers respectively.

"None of the companies have delivered explanations to the agency for the massive layoffs. I am certain the workers were laid off without clear reasons," said Mapar Suparyadi, head of industrial relationship dispute department at the agency.

Alfonso, deputy chairman of Banten's Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo), justified the companies' decision. "Several industrial firms in Banten have asked some of their workers to stay home lately because the companies are facing financial difficulties," he said.

He said 20 percent of a total 2,265 industrial firms operating in the province were suffering setbacks because export of their products to the United States and other countries had dropped by 20 percent on average.

In order to survive, the companies had no choice but to ask workers to remain at home, he said.

Apindo will propose the government give tax incentives to the firms, he added. "Therefore, we also ask all workers not to demand an increase in their monthly wages higher than what the industrial firms can afford," he said.

Separately, Yesehikal Prabowo, chairman of the Banten's National Labor Union (SPN), said the number of workers to be laid off by industrial firms would continue to increase in the near future because many firms were facing hardship.

"It seems workers need to wait for their fate. If the companies where they currently work can survive the global financial crises, they will continue working and if not, they will have to lose their jobs," he said.

"We have been advocating for the workers' rights. As a result, some of them still receive 50 percent of their month wage from the companies."