Protesting labors fail to force Vico Indonesia to fulfill demands

Hundreds of protesting employees of the sub contractors of oil and gas firm PT Vico Indonesia fail to force the company to fulfill their demands, for now, after the East Kalimantan office of the government-sponsored labor dispute settlement agency (P4D) decided to drop the demands, according to Suara Kaltim daily.

The East Kalimantan P4D said in its January 23 ruling, that Vico had no obligation to fulfill the demands of the protesting employees because the company had no direct contract relations with the protesting employees.

The paper said that the protesting employees, grouped in the prominent SBSI labor union, have 14 days to decide whether to accept the decision or to appeal to the central P4D office in Jakarta.

The protesting employees had staged a strike since November 2000 with a 7-point demands including a raise in salary, canceling recent lay-off decision by the sub contractors, paying the salary of the protesting employees during the strike and paying for the medical treatment of injured employees during the strike.

The protesters had clashed with security officers, and the coordinator of the East Kalimantan SBSI labor union Wuaya Kawilarang had also been detained by the police over alleged provocation activity. (*)