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