Jakarta, May 11 (Antara) - PT Freeport Indonesia in Mimika, Papua Province, still needs to meet with the labor union to resolve its dispute with thousands of workers who have struck work demanding reinstatement of colleagues who were laid off.
The US copper and gold mining giant has been plagued by conflict with workers, following its decision to impose a furlough policy on its workers after the government banned it from exporting concentrate for its failure to build a smelter.
The company's trade union, as part of observing the International Labor Day, or May Day, on May 1, has since organized a strike for thousands of workers. The company is also reported to have laid off 178 regular workers.
Ignasius Jonan, Energy and Mineral Resources (ESD) Minister, has asked for a confirmation from the local government regarding the strike by thousands of workers and the layoffs of 178 regular workers.
According to Eltinus Omaleng, Mimika District Head, Jonan wanted to know why the workers had staged the strike. Minister Jonan was making a transit at Mozes Kilangin aiport of Timika (district capital of Mimika) during his flight from Jayapura to Jakarta, Wednesday (May 10).
"During the call at the port, I reported to the minister about the worker's strike in Timika. He was unable to understand why the case happened, because the government had allowed Freeport to carry out its concentrate export again," Omaleng said.
Omaleng now plans to facilitate the meeting between the management and the workers' union of the company. "I want them to meet and resolve their dispute," Omaleng remarked, hoping that the striking workers would return to work.
Freeport which has large copper and gold mines in Papua, has been forced to lay off its workers over its dispute with the government. The subsidiary of the US mining giant Freeport McMoRun Copper and Gold had earlier stopped production, as it was not allowed to export its copper concentrate since February this year. However, the government has issued a license for the company to resume concentrate export until February 2018.
"I hope workers staging the strike will return to work soon. They should not stay on strike too long," he stressed, mentioning that striking work could lead to more layoffs.
No company will be ready to accept (negligent) workers without sanctions. The district head has received a report that the company would be laying off workers who have repeatedly committed violations beyond the tolerance limits.
The local Manpower, Transmigration and People's Housing Service has received report that the number of workers laid off by Freeport up to May 9, 2017, stood at 178 workers.
PT. Freeport Indonesia has fired 178 of its workers for failing to report to work since starting the mass strike on May 1.
Septinus Soumilena, Head of the Mimika labor office, remarked the workers were dismissed, as they chose to continue the mass strike organized by the local trade union. PT Freeport had nullified the identity cards of the 178 workers and closed their bank accounts. Further, they were entitled to only a severance pay, equivalent to their basic salary in the range of Rp13 million-Rp16 million.
According to Freeport, the record of the 178 workers when they were active was bad. The company's management had served them repeated warnings about their behaviour, but they had refused to pay attention.
Currently, around 2,700 workers have joined the strike, excluding workers of Freeport's contractors.
The management of PT. Freeport Indonesia, Saturday, had asked its striking workers to return to work.
Karel Luntungan, Spokesman of the US company, confirmed the call to return to work had been made by the management through Short Message Service (SMS). "Today, an SMS was sent out, urging registered workers to return to work," Luntungan affirmed, Saturday (May 6).
The trade union have insisted the strike would continue until May 30. The workers are adamant in their demand that the 50 workers who were dismissed for being absent last month "without clear reasons" be reinstated.
Earlier, the labor union said the workers had made three main demands to the management of PT Freeport; one was to stop the furlough policy and allow workers to work again. They have also urged the management of PT Freeport to stop any form and attempt to criminalize the workers, Tri Puspita, an advisor to the trade union revealed.
Some of the workers who were laid off are members of the trade union executive board, she stated. "Almost 40 percent of our friends are victims of the furlough policy. There are strong indications that the management is set to dismiss all the workers active in the trade union, citing inefficiency as a pretext. They are utilizing the current momentum to trim the functionaries of the labor union," Tri maintained.
A meeting on Saturday that lasted until past midnight, facilitated by Yohanis Bassang, Mimika's deputy district head, between the worker leaders and the company management ended in a disagreement.
The workers' union has demanded that all workers who had been absent from work since April 11, 2017, should not be laid off but be placed under sanctions, issued three warnings, and they must be paid for the time they were absent from work.
All sanctions to be imposed on the workers should first be discussed with the workers' union, so that the management does not impose arbitrary sanctions.
Yopi Morin, one of the labor leaders, remarked that the 50 workers had remained absent, as they were confused with the furlough policy of the management. Morin argued that the temporary leave of absence applied by the company, since late February 2017, was not stated in the labor law.
Leaders of the labor union also rejected Bassang's suggestion that the workers drop the strike, while negotiations continue on the dismissal of the 50 workers who have been absent from work since April 11.
In the meantime, the management is firm on its stand of upholding its work discipline for workers who left their jobs, including those who have the potential to be laid off.
The management said it would not reinstate workers who have repeatedly committed offenses, despite warnings and sanctions, especially those trying to intimidate loyal workers.
Freeport vice presidents Achmad Didit Ardianto and Sony Prasetyo noted they could not promise re-employment of workers who have left work. "Reinstating them would not be acceptable to those who have been loyal to work. Loyal workers have stated their loyalty and will not work together with those showing disloyalty," Achmad remarked. ***4***
(A014/INE )EDITED BY INE(T.A014/B/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 11-05-2017 17:34: |
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