Tripatra begins laying off 4,995 workers
Tuesday, September 30 2003 - 02:11 AM WIB
The 4,995 people comprised 4,495 field workers and 500 administrative workers, the paper quoted as saying the Riau police chief Brig. Gen. Deddy Sutardi Komaruddin who met with Triparta’s top officials recently.
Triparta will give severance pay to the 500 administrative workers Tuesday (today), while the 4,495 field workers will receive their separation pay Oct 7-9, Deddy said Monday.
All the workers had been allowed to work at Tripatra until Sept. 25, Deddy said.
Reports said the termination of CPI’s contract with Tripatra was due to the continued decline in exploration and production activities in the giant oil company. CPI, Indonesia’s largest oil producer, has oil and gas mining operations in Riau.
CPI’s contract with Tripatra expires Sept. 30 (today).
Deddy said he had prepared around 200 police officers to protect CPI’s assets from possible violent action by workers who opposed the layoff. They had been posted at CPI’s oil refineries in Rumbai (Pekanbaru City), Minas (Siak regency), Duri (Bengkalis regency) and Bangko (Rokan Hilir regency).
Deddy added he had also had asked Triparta’s leaders to hold talks with trade union leaders so as to prevent workers from taking violent action.
Deddy said Triparta had withdrawn 35 percent of its vehicles from CPI’s operational sites in anticipation of labor unrest. All of the company’s vehicles would be withdrawn by Sept. 30 (today). (*)