KPC withdraws warning letters to striking workers, company starts normal operation
Saturday, August 5 2000 - 03:30 AM WIB
The management of coal miner PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) decided on Wednesday night to withdraw warning letters it sent to around 600 employees who had been involved in protests and strike that had forced the company to halt its operation for several time.
The management decision to withdraw the warning letters was revealed by Kutai Timur regent Drs. Awang Farauk MM MSi.
Because the management decided to withdraw the warning letters, the striking workers agreed to end their strike and this allows the company to resume its coal production as of Wednesday night.
"It's true that the employees again blockaded the production activities. However, as of 11:00 p.m. last night (Wednesday night), in Jakarta all parties reached an agreement, and the strike in the mining site was over, and now everything has returned to normalcy," the regent said.
In the negotiation in Jakarta, attended by KPC president Grant Thorne and the chairman of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI), Muchtar Pakpahan, it was agreed that the company would provide housing allowance of Rp 200,000 per month to employees and promised to raise their salaries by 2 percent.
The company employs a total of around 2,700 people.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the National Committee of Indonesian Youth's (KNPI) East Kalimantan branch, Drs H Zainal Arifin, said that his party would invite executives of SBSI's KPC branch that organized the strike for a dialogue to help solve the problem in KPC.
Zainal said that youths in East Kalimantan, especially in the surrounding areas of KPC, felt disgusted with the prolonged conflicts between KPC and the employees, especially those grouped in SBSI. Therefore, KNPI wanted to know what the employees in the SBSI wanted from KPC.
He said that their strike had given bad impression about investment climate in East Kalimantan.
Meanwhile, the company's security guards protested the management's decision to import security personnel, called the Group-4 (G-4). They said they would not hand over the areas they currently supervise to the foreign security personnel and threatened to defend their areas at all cost. (*)