KPC security officers reject dismissal decision

Some 39 ex-security officers of the coal giant company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) in East Kalimantan has protested the recent management decision to dismiss them, the local Kaltim Post daily reported Saturday.

The paper said that the ex-security officers had sent a letter of protest the ministry of labor affairs, to the provincial governor and other related institutions.

The protesters said that KPC made the dismissal decision together with the government-sponsored labor relations committee called the P4P without any negotiation with the security officers.

The ex-security officers also said that the compensation paid by the company was too small, and was not based on the existing regulation.

KPC dismissed some of its security officers to be replaced by a more professional security expert from the U.S. called the G4 group, reports said.

The decision has sparked a polemic in the East Kutai regency. Deputy speaker of the East Kutai legislative council Bahrid Buseng said that he was ?deeply concerned? by the KPC decision. He said that the timing was not right to dismiss the officers amid the current economic hardships and volatile social and political condition.(*)