SBSI threatens to report arrest of staff to ILO
Friday, November 24 2000 - 04:30 AM WIB
The Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) Muchtar Pakpahan has stepped up efforts to free its key staff in East Kalimantan from the police custody, saying on Thursday it would report the arrest case to several international organizations, including the International Labor Organization (ILO).
SBSI's president Muchtar Pakpahan said the union would also report the case to the House of Representatives and non-governmental organizations.
Muchtar also said the Union had found evidences that American oil and gas company Vico Indonesia had "paid" the East Kalimantan police to make the arrest and would report it to the Indonesian Corruption Watch, Kaltim Post reported.
Muchtar maintained that Vico had paid each of police officers guarding its operation Rp 25,000 (US$1=Rp 9,423) per day.
"The payment bills are in our hands," Muchtar said.
East Kalimantan police has arrested SBSI's East Kalimantan coordinator Wuaya Kawilarang on charges of inciting workers to protest Vico.
The protesting workers, who are all Vico's contractors' workers, had staged a series of protests to push their demand for higher pay and permanent jobs with Vico. The workers, who are all members of SBSI, even blocked access road to Vico's operation to pressure the company to meet their demand.
The arrest of Kawilarang has angered SBSI, which later filed a lawsuit against the police over the action.
However, Vico and many parties in East Kalimantan, who were displeased by SBSI's alleged refusal to compromise during negotiations, have welcome the arrest.
"Vico was surprised by the police action. In the beginning, the police looked to be afraid (of SBSI). Suddenly, they made the arrest," Vico's industrial relation Hasanuddin Rachman said, adding that the arrest did not violate the law.
Vico's external relations manager Syaiful Rachman denied that Vico had paid the police.
"It's not true that Vico has paid the police to crack down on SBSI ? Vico is a vital project of the government. As such, the police will not wait for a request to protect it in case of security problems," Syaiful said. (*)