Official says airport strike 'unnecessary'<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The airport employees' plan to hold a mass
\nprotest on Monday demanding the government restore their civil
\nservant status is unnecessary and will only disrupt the country's
\nimage worldwide, an official said on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\"It's unnecessary to demand a change in our status from
\nprivate company employees to government employees,\" head of
\nPassenger and Luggage Services at PT Gapura Angkasa, Hendro
\nWahyu, told The Jakarta Post at his office in the Soekarno-Hatta
\nInternational Airport compound.<\/p>\n
He said many other employees, from the protesting group, were
\nsatisfied with their current status as private company employees.<\/p>\n
\"They (the protesting employees) should not bother with their
\nstatus. We (all employees) have been lucky enough, because
\ndespite the economic turmoil, we still have our jobs,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Hendro was commenting on the plan by the company's some 200
\nemployees to hold a mass protest on Monday demanding that their
\ncivil servant status be restored.<\/p>\n
PT Gapura Angkasa is a private joint venture company, co-
\nestablished by national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia Airways
\nand the airport's management, PT Angkasa Pura. A sole company, it
\nhandles ground services, such as check-in and boarding facilities
\nfor Garuda.<\/p>\n
Hendro said Garuda transferred 1,600 of its employees to PT
\nGapura in 1998, as part of the company's restructuring program
\nafter Gaurda suffered significant losses due to the plunge of the
\nrupiah against the U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n
He said about 85 percent of the company's employees were from
\nGaruda.<\/p>\n
Hendro lambasted the planned strike, saying that passengers
\nand the country in general would suffer.<\/p>\n
\"Since Garuda also serves foreign passengers, the strike, if
\ncarried out, will also harm the country's international
\nreputation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He called on the protesters to air their demand through the
\nappropriate channel.<\/p>\n
\"It would be better if they filed their demand at the
\ncompany's workers union,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Elman Haloho and M.Y.C. Werdiningsih, claiming to represent
\n230 of the company's 1,200 employees at the airport, disclosed
\ntheir plan to stage the protest to the media on Friday.<\/p>\n
The employees demanded the government return their civil
\nservant status and put them back under Garuda's supervision. The
\nprotest is scheduled to start at 4 a.m. on Monday, or the
\nbeginning of the company's first working shift of the day.<\/p>\n
Nurdianto, an employee of PT Gapura, said the strike would
\ndisturb Garuda's flight schedules.<\/p>\n
\"Airplanes can't depart if the strike is carried out, as only
\na few employees will be providing check-in and luggage handling
\nservices,\" he told the Post at the airport, adding that there
\nwere 60 Garuda flights on Monday alone.<\/p>\n
He said he had received information that the strike would be
\nheld in terminals E and F.<\/p>\n
\"These terminals serve mostly Garuda airplanes,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Nurdianto said PT Gapura also served other airlines, such as
\nKLM, China Southern Airlines, Korean Air and China Airlines.<\/p>\n
Separately, Garuda spokesman Pujobroto said the planned strike
\nwas an internal matter of PT Gapura Angkasa.<\/p>\n
\"The employees signed the agreement that they were willing to
\nbe moved to PT Gapura Angkasa,\" he told the Post by phone on
\nSunday.<\/p>\n
He said Garuda was coordinating with PT Gapura Angkasa to
\nprovide reserve employees to ensure that passengers would receive
\nthe company's services.<\/p>\n
\"We can assure passengers that the strike will not disrupt
\nflights,\" he said. (asa)<\/p>",
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