Freeport?s workers stage protest
Wednesday, November 26 2014 - 03:20 AM WIB
About 50 workers of gold and copper giant PT Freeport Indonesia staged a rally on Tuesday at the company?s mine site in Tembagapura District, Mimika Regency, Papua Province, to demand the dismissal of 53 workers seen as provocateurs of strikes in October, Kompas reported on Wednesday.
The paper said that the workers also protested the latest agreement between the company and its SPSI workers union to set up a three-member arbitration panel, tasked with resolving disputes between the company and the workers.
Kompas witnessed that at around three in the afternoon, the protesting workers blockaded the only road toward the company?s port in Amamapare.
The police and the military (TNI) have dispatched around 800 personnel to secure vital assets in Tembagapura following the rally, said Paulus Waterpaw, Deputy Chief of the Papua police.
PT Freeport spokesperson Daisy Prunayanti declined to provide comments. (*)