Workers stage protests against Caltex?s new labor policy

Nearly 900 workers of PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI), which operates six oil blocks in Riau province, staged a demonstration at the provincial manpower office in Pekanbaru, protesting the company?s new labor policy, Media Indonesia reported on Tuesday.

The workers said that the company?s new labor policy which would remove the status of permanent workers at the company into contract workers would threaten the labor existence in the company. "It is only a trick so that the company will not pay compensation payment if there is a layoff," one of the workers said.

According to the new labor policy, the workers who mostly have worked for Caltex for over 10 years will be returned to labor supplier PT Pitradik. If the workers want to work again with the oil company, they have to work under a new contract.

The workers suspect the change in the labor system is in line with the company?s labor reduction program. With the new policy, the company is not required to pay severance payment if it lies off its workers. Although the new policy would not affect the current wages and facilities, the workers said that their fate will be more uncertain. (*)