AICE Claiming Not To Make Unilateral Layoffs

Illustration. (Photo: Instagram @aiceindonesia)

JAKARTA - The termination of employment (PHK) which was carried out by the ice cream producer company AICE Group for hundreds of employees was said to have not been carried out unilaterally. AICE claims that the company made layoffs after calling employees but was ignored.

Alpen Food Industry (AFI) Legal Corporate, Simon Audry Halomoan Siagian emphasized that in his company there were never any unilateral layoffs from the company. He explained that the company will consider layoffs if someone violates company regulations and has received an SP3.

Furthermore, Simon said, so far what had happened in the company was layoffs because the employee in question had indeed submitted a resignation request.

Regarding the mass layoffs some time ago, Simon said the company did not immediately take action to carry out layoffs. The decision was taken after the company made two written summons but received no response. Thus, the company was forced to qualify for an illegal employee strike.

"After we summoned, the workers did not heed our calls. So because they did not heed it, this qualifies as resignation. That is what is called layoffs due to resignation. So there is no termination of employment that is done unilaterally by the company," he said, in a press conference. virtual, Friday, June 26.

So, how does AICE ensure that no more employees are laid off in the future? Head of Human Resources from AICE Group Antonius Hermawan Susilo said, actually AICE Group has a company philosophy that employees are the company's main asset.

According to him, this philosophy has not been fully implemented by AFI. This is because the company just joined and AICE acquired it in 2015.

According to Antoni, AICE Group has an internal labor union and two unions and runs harmoniously. However, the company is currently in conflict with an internal union known as the Indonesian Earth Workers Union (SGBBI).

"It is very unfortunate that we are currently at odds with one union, resulting in two strikes in recent periods. This has resulted in our friends who are members of SGBBI we qualified to resign because the strike has lasted more than 7 days," he said.

Antoni said that currently the company management is trying to ensure that the industrial relations crisis or layoffs do not occur again. One of the ways is by increasing harmony with employees and developing cooperatives and improving employee health and welfare.

"That is one of the things we want to do in the near future. In essence, all activities will be centered on how to develop the PT Alpen Food Industry ecosystem as a large company, which can harmoniously develop individuals within it, not just the company," he explained.

Antoni said that currently the company had qualified, there were 469 employees who resigned and were in the process of mediation.

Labor Exploitation

As is well known, workers who work at PT Alpen Food Industry (AFI) as AICE ice cream producer go on strike until they end up being laid off (PHK). They take this action solely because they want to get a living wage.

In addition, AICE is considered to have exploited women workers who are pregnant. They were forced to work according to normal targets, lifting 10 rolls of plastic rollers, of which the weight of one roll is 10 kilograms.

Pregnant women workers are also required to sweep and mop in a squat before starting work until they are placed in a production section that uses dangerous chemicals and disturbs the health of pregnant women.

In addition, it is difficult for women workers to apply for menstrual leave. In fact, menstrual leave is the right of every woman worker.