ABOUT 300 employees of Hongkong Bank's offices in Jakarta went on strike yesterday, demanding six per cent pay rises and pension improvements.
''The employer has refused to negotiate and just wanted to settle the problem through the Manpower Ministry,'' said Budiman Abdullah, chairman of the workers' association at the bank.
However, a bank manager denied the bank had refused to negotiate with the union.
''We feel we have offered them a good deal and we expect them to return to work before we negotiate,'' he said.
He claimed the bank had been negotiating for the past three months and had offered ''not far off'' the six per cent asked.
Mr Budiman said the workers had lowered their pay rise demand to six per cent from the 15 per cent demanded when talks began two months ago.