TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-The Ministry of Manpower announced that as many as 6,500 Indonesian workers is threatened to be sacked by Binladin Group spread throughout Mecca, Jeddah, Medina, and Riyadh. “We continue to seek for the best solution for Indonesian workers working in Binladin,” Manpower Minister Muhammad Hanif Dhakiri said yesterday, May 25, 2016.
Hanif, who is visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and United Arab Emirate this week, is coordinating with the Foreign Ministry to discuss the issue. He has also met with Indonesian ambassador to Saudi Arabia to discuss whether they (the workers) could still work there or be sent home.
Based on the document verification, some 3,500 Indonesian workforce who originally worked in Binladin Group are ready to be sent back to Indonesia. As many as 250 of them have already have exit permit documents.
In his visit, Hanif symbolically handed over the job cut insurance to nine workers being laid-off by Binladin Group.
Currently, many of the workers still have difficulty in disbursing their lay-off insurance fund. They said they have submitted the claim, but have yet received confirmation on the payment.
Hanif has requested the insurance consortium to immediately settle the insurance claims. “It must be done. The Binladin must pay the rights of the laid-off workers,” he asserted.
The Minister promised to fight for the workers’ rights and to accelerate the settlement process. “We continue to coordinate with the Foreign Ministry, Consultant General and Indonesian Embassy in associated regions, National Posting and Protection of Indonesian Workers Agency (B2NP2TKI), as well as the Consortium Insurance to resolve the issue,” he said.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Agus Maftuh Abegebriel, said the repatriation of the Binladin Group’s laid-off workers to Indonesia is currently in process. “Some 300 people have returned home,” he said.
Many among them have yet received their salary. Not only Binladin, but also a number of its subsidiaries have yet pay the salary of its employees for five months. “Now it’s just being disbursed and we will speed up the process,”he said.
The Indonesian government will help the former Indonesian workers to receive working capital from business credit (KUR). There are approximately Rp1 trillion in KUR funding disbursed.
PINGIT ARIA
