Bloomberg TV Indonesia pressed for severance payment

The Legal Aid Center for the Press ( LBH Pers ) and the Manpower Ministry have called on the owner of now defunct station Bloomberg TV Indonesia Rosan Roeslani to pay compensation to its former workers in accordance with the company’s layoff agreement.

LBH Pers executive director Nawawi Bahrudin said Rosan, who is also chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry ( KADIN ), must comply with the legal agreement.

“I strongly urge the employer to comply with its legal obligations,” Nawawi told  recently.

Bloomberg TV Indonesia has failed to pay the compensation by the time stated in the payment agreement attached to the termination of employment letter issued on July 8, 2015.

Manpower Ministry special staff Dita Indah Sari said as a leader of Indonesia’s industrialists, Rosan should be more sensitive in dealing with labor issues and attentive in treating employees properly.

“The Manpower Ministry warns the shareholders not to neglect employees’ rights. Otherwise, our legal division will call and examine them,” Dita asserted.

She added the ministry would continue to supervise the dispute process between the ex- employees of Bloomberg TV Indonesia and the employers until everything was settled, adding that the department’s legal division is ready to help if necessary.

“I fully support the ex-workers’ struggle,” asserted Dita, a former labor activist who was jailed by President Soeharto’s government.

The coordinator of ex-Bloomberg TV Indonesia workers Arif Budiman said the former employees had chosen LBH Pers as their representative to submit the lawsuit to the Industrial Relations Court ( PHI ) in the event of a deadlock in the mediation between ex-employees and employers.

“We urge ex-CEO Adhitya Chandra Wardhana and the owner Rosan Roeslani to cooperate with us and meet the terms of the agreement,” Arif said.

Bloomberg TV Indonesia owner Rosan Roeslani responded to the demands by saying that his party would settle everything related to the company’s obligation to the workers as soon as possible.

Rosan established the economic and business focused Bloomberg TV Indonesia, which was operated under holding company PT Idea Karya Indonesia in 2013, and officially closed two years later due to financial concerns.