Sad News From Malang City, Thousands Of Hotel And Restaurant Workers Laid Off

One of the hotels in the Malang City area, East Java, The Shalimar Boutique Hotel. (Vicki Febrianto/Antara)

JAKARTA - Thousands of hotel and restaurant workers in the Malang City area, East Java, were forced to be laid off due to the implementation of the Implementation of Community Activity Restrictions (PPKM), which is the government's effort to suppress the spread of the Corona virus. (BPC) Malang City Agoes Basoeki said, during the PPKM period, hotels and restaurants were allowed to operate with 50 percent of employees entering. "As many as 50 percent of employees were temporarily laid off. The total employees of Malang City PHRI members were 4,000 people, a rough calculation, 2,000 employees who are temporarily laid off," said Agoes, as quoted by Antara, Sunday, July 24. Agoes explained that employees who were forced to be temporarily laid off did not receive a salary during the PPKM period. These employees must be temporarily laid off because under PPKM provisions, hotels and restaurants can continue to operate by limiting the number of workers.

According to him, the burden of the temporarily laid off employees became very heavy, considering that the necessities of life continued, while they did not get any income. He hopes that there will be no extension of the PPKM period and that the spread of COVID-19 will be successfully suppressed. "The employees' income has decreased, while they must continue to meet their consumption. Hopefully there will be no more extensions, so we can take recovery steps," he said. It is very difficult for the hotel and restaurant sector in Malang City, he continued, PHRI Malang City complies with the rules issued by the government, in an effort to suppress the spread of the Corona virus. COVID-19 can be suppressed," he said. The Malang City PHRI oversees approximately 70 hotels and restaurants, with the number of workers up to thousands of people. During the PPKM period, the tourism sector in Malang City was significantly affected, which had an impact on hotel and restaurant business actors. It was recorded that in Malang City, there were 9,891 positive confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of the total, 6,606 people were reported to have recovered, 720 were declared dead, and the rest were under treatment.