Badak NGL?s workers threaten to go on strike

More than one thousand workers of East Kalimantan-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer PT Badak NGL may go on strike if the company management fails to meet with them to outline their labor agreement, local daily Kaltim Post reported Monday.

Two officials of PT Badak NGL?s trade union (SP-FPLB), Gibeon Kauntu and Edy Subarata, were quoted as saying Sunday that the workers and the company management had agreed to hold the meeting no later than June 16. In their meeting they would deliberate matters for improving their labor agreement.

Gibeon and Edy said that they suspected the company management of trying to put off the planned meeting because so far it had not yet held a discussion with them to prepare the planned meeting. ?All parties should know that it will be a difficult meeting so that there needs to be a preliminary discussion,? Gibeon told the paper.

More than 1,000 workers of Badak NGL from Bontang, Balikpapan and Samarinda met in Bontang on June 4-5 amid indications that the management was not serious to hold the meeting. They demanded that their labor agreement must be based on direct negotiations with the management of Badak NGL, the negotiations must be held according to plan, compensation for contract workers must be similar to the one received by permanent workers, and that they would go on strike if their negotiations with Badak LNG management turned into a deadlock. (*)