KPC asks police to act against protesters
Wednesday, June 21 2000 - 02:45 AM WIB
Coal giant mining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) asked the local East Kutai police to act "proportionately" against its protesting employees.
KPC external relations manager Bambang Susanto was quoted by the Neraca daily as saying that the protesting employees staged their demonstration at the company's coal processing plant.
He said that if this goes on it would disrupt the company's production process which would cause losses to all related parties.
"That's why we expect the police to act more proportional in handling the demonstration," Bambang said.
He said that the demonstration was made by some employees grouped under the SBSI labor union led by Mochtar Pakpahan.
Some 200 employees has been reportedly to have staged a demonstration for a week now demanding for a higher salary and better welfare package. The protesters has also controlled the company's conveyor belt.
But Bambang said that the company would not fulfill the demand because the salary of KPC employees were already higher than the minimum regional salary level.
He also said that the issue had already been settled by the local P4D team. He said that if the employees were not satisfied with the decision, they should have made an appeal instead of staging a protest at the mining production site. (*)