Hundreds of PT Thiess workers evacuated following demonstration by villagers
Friday, May 25 2001 - 06:30 AM WIB
Hundreds of workers of PT Thiess Senakin Mine, the contractor of coal mining firm PT Arutmin, in Kelumpang Tengah sub district, Kotabaru district, in East Kalimantan, had been evacuated following massive demonstration by local villagers demanding work at the company, the local Banjarmasin Post daily reported on Friday.
The paper said that the evacuation has started since Tuesday using a helicopter, when the villagers started to occupy the company. The paper said that six foreign workers had been occupied since Wednesday.
?Hundreds of employees including six foreign staffs have been evacuated from PT Thiess Senakin Mine to PT Arutmin in Tanjung Pemancingan area,? said Sugian Noor of the local ministry of labor office.
Kotabaru Regent H. Sjachrani and other top officials had visited the area to try to end the demonstration. Police is seen securing the area.
The paper said that the villagers started to get angry after Thiess failed to respond properly to growing demand for the company to employ more local people.
The paper did not say the loss suffered by Arutmin.
PT Thiess is a unit of Australia?s largest contracting firm Leighton Holding. (*)