TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Independent Journalists Alliance (AJI) reported that there are 23 journalists that filed complaints and fell victim to layoff from a number of mass media during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“The complaints were mostly related to the sudden layoffs done by corporations,” said AJI Jakarta head of workers union Taufiqurrohman in Tuesday’s written release.

According to him, the layoff was seen as a unilateral layoff since the employee was only notified about the layoff during an ongoing working month, even though the previous month’s wage has even yet to be paid.

“At that instance, the workers were laid off without any clear mechanism,” he explained.

Reports also came into the AJI Jakarta headquarters regarding unfair take-home pay, forcing workers to take unpaid leaves, and there was also one journalist who was transferred to another department for questioning the office’s decision to conduct layoffs.

The Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers) and AJI Jakarta collectively calls for news media corporations to collectively meet worker’s demands prior to making significant decisions such as layoffs. They also offer journalists who are financially affected by the pandemic as the aforementioned cases to access and fill the form on the website: bit.ly/Aduan-JCovid19.

FRISKI RIANA