5,000 workers to lose jobs

5,000 workers to lose jobs

SAMARINDA, East Kalimantan: The East Kalimantan Manpower
Office estimated that some 5,000 timber workers in the province
would lose their jobs following the government's recent decision
to restrict logging.

In the last three months, four timber companies have stopped
production.

"(An estimated) 5,000 workers might lose their jobs. I don't
want to name the four companies because I don't want to make
their workers worried," head of the manpower office, Masri Hadi,
told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

He said the government set aside a timber quota of 1.5 million
cubic meters for East Kalimantan in 2005, which made it hard for
the timber companies to get materials to meet demand of an
estimated 3.5 million cubic meters of timber per year.

Head of the Indonesian Timber and Forestry Workers in East
Kalimantan, Khairul Anam, threatened to stage massive protests if
timber companies went ahead with plans to cut the number of
workers.

"This threat is serious because all this time, even while
working normally, the timber workers have been disadvantaged by
the company, especially with severance pay, which the company
fails to meet. The government should have an alternative
solution," he said. -- JP