Thousands of Caltex? contractor workers hold protest rally at Riau manpower office

Some 2,400 workers of PT Tripatra, contractor of oil producer PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI), on Wednesday staged a protest rally at the manpower office of the Riau province, threatening to seal it allegedly because it had not protected their rights, Media Indonesia daily reported.

The demonstrators were from CPI?s oil mining fields in Riau namely Minas, Duri, Rumbai, Libo, Petapahan and Manggala. They came to the manpower office using 60 buses.

They protested Tripatra management?s decision to lay off in the near future 3,700 workers reportedly because CPI had reduced construction work at its oil projects. Tripatra employed some 8,000 workers at CPI?s oil fields.

The protesters complained that the manpower office had not endorsed the agreement they had reached with Tripatra and CPI that Tripatra had no right to ask them to resign. The demonstrators said the 3,700 workers should have become CPI?s permanent workers.

Of the 3,700 people, 1,300 had reportedly agreed to resign and that Triparta would give them severance payment.

Last month, thousands of Tripatra workers blocked CPI?s main offices in Duri and Rumbai, paralyzing the offices? activities. They demanded higher severance pay as Triparta was planning to lay off its workers.

CPI, a subsidiary of US oil giant Chevron Texaco, produces 560,000 barrels of oil per day from its Riau operations. (*)