Hundreds of ex-employees of PT Thiess stage demonstration

Hundreds of ex-employees of PT Thiess Contractors Indonesia (TCI), a contractor of East Kalimantan coal mining firm PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC), staged a demonstration on Friday at the Pasir administration headquarters protesting the company?s decision to fire them.

The local Kaltim Post daily reported that several representatives of the protesters where then allowed to meet Regent Yusriasyah Syarkawi later in the afternoon, and it was agreed that the aspiration of the former employees to get their job back would be delivered to TCI headquarters in Jakarta.

The ex-employees had previously held several days of strike to demand higher pay for extra working hours. Negotiations facilitated by the local administration and labor office yielded to nothing. The company had warned the employees to return to work or would be fired.

Kaltim Post said that with such background it would be unlikely that TCI would agree to hire them back.(*)