Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – As the economic crisis takes firm hold in the city, hundreds of workers staged rallies Tuesday demanding their right to severance pay after losing their jobs.

Some 100 workers from garment factory PT Inkosindo Sukses, located in the industrial zone in North Jakarta, staged a protest at the City Council in Central Jakarta, while laid-off workers from manufacturing company PT Mulia Industrindo staged their own rally at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry on Jl. Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta.

Inkosindo Employees Forum head Siti Nurul Alifah said the company, which produces apparel for internationally renowned brands, filed for bankruptcy in early January and laid off around 1,300 employees "without adequate severance pay".

She added the North Jakarta District Court had yet declare the firm bankrupt. "The management only gave us 20 percent of our pay. That's rubbish. Under the labor law, severance pay may not cut by percentages like that," Siti said.

Meanwhile, some 500 workers from Mulia Industrindo were fired without severance pay after staging a strike since last month.

Under the 2003 Labor Law, workers receive severance pay depending on how long they have worked at the company. Someone who has worked for 24 years at a company is entitled to pay that is 38 times their monthly salary.

Aliman A'at, head of the City Council's Commission B overseeing financial affairs, promised to follow up on the case.

An adviser for the group, Yusuf, said the company had operated for around 20 years, with some employees employed there for up to 15 years.

None of the companies' officials were available for comment Tuesday.

In January, the Indonesian Employers' Association (Apindo) warned that up to 10,000 workers would be laid off between December 2008 and January 2009, with the International Labor Organization (ILO) predicting more than 170,000 Indonesians would lose their jobs this year.