PLN's workers threaten to hold massive strike

Workers of state power firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) have threatened to hold a massive strike if the government goes ahead with its plan to split the company into separate units.

The government can take such a move only after the Constitutional Court has completed its judicial review over the current electricity law, Law No. 20/2002, the workers said. The court started to review the law and several other laws Tuesday.

"We will go on strike en masse if the government splits PLN," PLN's trade union chairman Ahmad Daryoko told reporters Wednesday.

PLN's workers suspect that the government will sell PLN's units after they are separated from the company, Ahmad said.

He urged the government to immediately revoke the decision issued in June by the director general of electricity and energy utilization which dictates that PLN's power generation, transmission and distribution functions be transformed into separate units by Nov. 27, 2003.

Ahmad argued that with many companies handling the sales of PLN's electricity, electricity price would increase because tax would be imposed on each of the new units.

"Moreover, the separation of PLN's units will serve as the entry point to sell the company," Ahmad said.

The government gave PLN a limited liability status in 1993, around one year after private investors were allowed to enter the country's power generation sector.

PLN currently has around 60,000 workers. (godang)