Kideco employees end strike
Friday, February 16 2001 - 04:00 AM WIB
Thousands of the employees of coal mining company PT Kideco Jaya Agung ended their 8-day strike late on Wednesday following an 11-hour negotiation arranged by head of the East Kalimantan office of the ministry of labor affairs, the local Kaltim Post daily reported on Friday.
The paper said that hundreds of the employees had started to resume work at the company's Batu Kajang mining site in Pasir Regency.
The paper said that the protesting employees, led by the high profile SBSI labor union, agreed with the company's management to continue negotiation over demand for a better salary. The two sides also agreed not to make steps that would do harm to both sides.
The one-week strike had caused Kideco coal production process to halt.
Meanwhile, the paper said that the rally made by local youth organizations led by the KNPI youth organization against the SBSI-led labor strike had contributed to force the protesting employees to come to the negotiation table mediated by the labor ministry office. The youth organizations had earlier warned that they would take steps to expel the SBSI labor union if the labor protests end up with an anarchy. The youth organization said that Kideco was an asset to the Pasir regency.(*)