Strike, blockade continue at KPC despite weekend agreement
KPC shareholders convene today in Jakarta to decide fate of company
Tuesday, August 15 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
The protesting employees of the East Kalimantan coal mining giant PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) continued to blockade the company's production facilities despite an agreement reached at the weekend to end the blockade, the local Kaltim Post daily reported. The protesting employees are grouped in the SBSI labor union.
The SBSI East Kalimantan branch office reached an agreement with several local community groupings, the provincial Police Chief and regional Military Commander to end the strike and blockade of facilities.
But Kaltim Post said that the employees have so far failed to honor the agreement.
Meanwhile, the KPC shareholders from London have arrived in Jakarta and is scheduled to convene today with their local counterparts to decide on the fate of the company including a possible closure of the operation.
The protesting employees had demanded among other things a raise in salary.
They have staged the protest since June.
While most of the demands have been generally fulfilled, the protest continued, as the employees wanted KPC to revoke the disciplinary warning issued by the management against some of the protesting employees who had been responsible for triggering the blockade of production facilities. But the management has maintained that disciplinary action was needed.
It is not clear what the consequences of the warning letter for the employees are. (*)