Caltex?s contractor Tripatra lays off 1,655 workers

PT Tripatra Engineering Constructors (TPEC), a PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia?s contractor, had dismissed 1,655 workers as part of the company?s mass lay-off program following declining demand from the oil giant, Riau Post reported on Tuesday.

Resident Manager of PT Tripatra, Curtis R. Jorgensen, announced on Monday that the layoff measure had been approved by Central Committee for the Settlement of Labor Dispute (P4P) of the local employment office.

After tough negotiations, the P4P committee issued a letter on April 1, formally accepting the mass layoff measure despite the opposition of the two main labor unions SBSI and SPSI, which said that they were not involved in the negotiation process.

Jorgensen said that the lay-off of the 1.655 workers become effective immediately and he asked the dismissed workers to get their compensation payment next week. He, however, did not disclose the amount of the compensation that would be paid to the unfortunate workers.

Human Resources and Industrial Relations Manager of Tripatra Aryo Damar said that the layoff was part of the company?s labor reduction program which was firstly started in July, last year. A number of approaches had been made, including an early retirement program and a conditional resignation program but only 2,100 of the workers joined the voluntarily retirement plans, he said.

Aryo said that the company planned to squeeze the employment by 3,700 workers in the long-term workers reduction plan.

The mass layoff measure has yet not received reaction from the workers but some workers said that they would join a demonstration to protest the layoff decision. (*)