Minister nullifies dismissal of Thiess' workers

Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwawea has annulled recent decision of East Kalimantan's labor dispute settlement committee (P4) to approve the dismissal of 171 workers of PT Thiess Contractor Indonesia (TCI), East Kalimantan based Kaltim Post daily reported on Wednesday.

The minister argued that protracted dispute between the workers and TCI, which is the subcontractor of East Kalimantan based coal mining firm PT Kideco Jaya Agung, could seriously impact ?public order and the interest of the state? as mentioned in Law No. 22, 1957, the newspaper said.

It was unclear exactly when the minister issued the nullification letter.

Kaltim Post said through the same letter the minister instructed TCI to reemploy the 171 workers.

Meanwhile, TCI?s office manager Aksa Aryad on Tuesday confirmed the issuance of the ministerial decision saying that it had not frightened them.

Aksa denied the minister?s allegations that TCI?s workers were continuing staging protest demonstrations at the company saying that they had never witnessed such activities since January.

Aksa told Kaltim Post TCI had filed a suit against the minister in the state administrative court (PTUN), and would even appeal to a higher court and the Supreme Court if PTUN favored the workers.

Aksa appealed to the 171 workers to receive separation pay from his company instead of awaiting the final results of their legal battle against TCI which no doubt would end after quite a long time.

TCI late last year dismissed the 171 workers after failing to get them back to work. The workers had been on strike to demand higher pay for extra working hours.

Following the protracted conflict within the company, P4 in March issued a ruling to approve their dismissal.

Kideco operates coal mines in Pasir Regency in East Kalimantan. (*)