PT Badak defends recruitment of workers from outside Bontang
Tuesday, June 5 2001 - 06:00 AM WIB
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer PT Badak NGL in Bontang, East Kalimantan, defended its policy to recruit workers from outside the local area, which had been much criticized by local legislators.
The Kaltim Post daily quoted Badak spokesman Harry Sulistiyadi as saying that the company had to recruit workers from Cilacap, in West Java, because the local resources did not meet specifications required by the company.
The leading Golkar faction at the local parliament strongly criticized the plan by Badak to recruit around 41 workers from Cilacap, to replace staffs which had left the company to work in Qatar. Some 19 workers have arrived, the paper said.
Harry said that the Cilacap workers were hired temporarily from the state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina to refurbish Badak?s A, B, C, and D LNG trains.
He explained that the renovation work was made amid full-operation in order to meet the tight LNG delivery schedule to customers worldwide. He said that for such a work a high-skill and experienced staffs were needed.
Harry added, however, that Badak remained committed to employ local workers.(*)