Antam seeks to end labor strike

Antam seeks to end labor strike

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

State-owned mining company PT Aneka Tambang (Antam) said it has
agreed to raise the salary of workers at its two ferronickel
plants in Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi, to end a four-day strike
which has disrupted operations at the plants.

"We (the management) have basically agreed to raise their
wages as long as they stop the strike and go back to work," Antam
spokesman Dohar Siregar told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He said that the company was still negotiating with the
workers on the size of the salary increase.

Antam employs around 1,400 workers at the two plants.

Hundreds of workers at the plants staged a strike on Tuesday,
demanding a salary increase of 100 percent to 300 percent.

They blocked accesses to Antam's two ferronickel plants.

The strike was later supported by other employees, causing the
Antam plants to stop operations.

The two plants produce a combined 10,300 metric tons of
ferronickel per year.

Dohar, however, said that the loss of output caused by the
strike was insignificant.

Antam is planning to develop its third ferronickel plant in
Pomalaa to boost production capacity to around 24,000 tons per
year. The company is seeking foreign financing for the US$380
million project.

Continuing labor disputes may jeopardize the expansion plan,
as foreign creditors would be reluctant to provide the financing,
analysts said.

Antam is currently in negotiation with Germany's Hermes for
the financing of the project.

Antam shares on the Jakarta Stock Exchange were down on Friday
at Rp 1,325, from Rp 1,350 on Thursday.

Many companies in the country have had to deal with workers
striking for better wages and conditions of service since the
fall of former authoritarian president Soeharto in 1998.

Some analysts are concerned that worker protests may
discourage foreign companies from investing in Indonesia.

The government is now trying hard to improve the investment
climate at home to attract badly needed foreign investment.

The mining sector has been one of the largest contributors to
foreign direct investment.

But reports said earlier that some mining companies had
started to abandon or suspend their investment plans here due to
various problems, including labor disputes and an aggressive
stance by newly empowered regional governments in collecting tax
revenue.