Batubara Bukit Asam reaches agreement with protesting employees

State-owned coal mining firm PT Batubara Bukit Asam has reached an agreement with some 72 protesting employees to end their dispute, the East Java Surabaya Post reported.

The 72 employees were part of the 172 contract workers hired by Bukit Asam to develop its coal briquette project in East Java. The company had to end its contract with the workers, as the briquette coal business was not as rosy as earlier expected.

But the 72 employees rejected the lay off plans, demanding Bukit Asam to continue employing them.

After months of dispute, Bukit Asam and the protesting employees reached an agreement in a negotiation meeting facilitated by the local parliament and the office of the ministry of labor affairs. Under the agreement, the workers agreed to only receive 50 percent payment for the next three months until December, and the company would then decide whether to continue hiring them or not after considering the business outlook.

If the company decides to end the contract, the 72 workers would also get the same compensation as what had been received by their other colleagues.

Bukit Asam hired the additional temporary employees because the briquette coal project was initially expected to have a production capacity of 70,000 tons per year. But in reality, the project until now only has a production capacity of 5,000 per year. (*)