Kitadin coal production halted due to employee protest: Surna
By R. Amoros and George Blunt
Thursday, June 29 2000 - 04:30 AM WIB
The Ministry of Mines and Energy confirmed on Thursday that coal mining company PT Kitadin had to temporarily halt is production in East Kalimantan due to employee demonstration.
"The case is like the one experienced by PT Kaltim Prima Coal," director general of mining Surna Tjahja Djajadiningrat told Petromindo.Com, referring to the coal mining company in Sangatta, East Kalimantan, which has stopped production due to employee demonstration demanding salary hike.
Surna did not provide details of what had happened with Kitadin, while none of Kitadin's staff was avaiable for comments on Thursday.
Sources said Kitadin's employees had started to stage a demonstration demanding for a better salary since June 14.
The source added that as in the case of Kaltim Prima Coal demonstration, the employee protest at Kitadin was also being supported by popular labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan, chairman of the radical SBSI labor union.
Kitadain start its coal operation in the early 90s in East Kalimantan. The company's total production now exceeds 1 million tons per year. (*)