Container port workers threaten to go on strike

JAKARTA (JP): Workers of the Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT) in Tanjung Priok seaport, North Jakarta, on Tuesday threatened to go on another strike on June 5, if the JICT management continued with its restructuring plan.

Chairman of JICT labor union, Ermanto Usman, told The Jakarta Post that a total of 1,200 workers would go on strike if the board of directors' plan to downsize the company's workers by 20 percent by March 2001 still continued.

"They said it's for the company's efficiency. Talking about efficiency, why don't they cut the unbelievably high salaries of expatriates who work here? Not to mention the alleged corruption and nepotism practices in this company," he said.

Ermanto, along with some 850 workers, went on strike at the House of Representatives on Monday, leaving at least 2,000 containers untouched on the docked vessels and causing at least Rp 2 billion in losses for JICT.

The workers said they were dissatisfied with the privatization of terminal activities at the international seaport, claiming that the deal was full of irregularities.

They also demanded the government review its deal with a foreign company and investigate the people who were involved in the purchase of the company's shares and in the replacement of the JICT president director.

In March 1999, Hong Kong-based Grosbeak Pte. Ltd. bought 51 percent of the shares of PT. Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) II, the parent company of PT. JICT, at US$215 million (about Rp 2 trillion at that time), as part of the Indonesian government's policy to privatize its state companies due to the monetary crisis.

"The sale price was much lower than the JICT estimated value of at least US$350 million," Ermanto said.

The estimated figure was calculated by comparing the privatization of Surabaya's Tanjung Perak Container Terminal worth US$179 million, through the sale of 49 percent of its shares, which was won by Australia's P&O.

"The Tanjung Priok Port's facility is twice as good as Tanjung Perak. Consequently, the sale of Tanjung Priok seaport has caused at least Rp 1 trillion in losses for the country.

"We suspected irregularities between the foreign company and the then State Minister of State Enterprises Tanri Abeng and PT Pelindo II president director Herman Prayitno," Ermanto said.

Expatriates

He said JICT has since hired 14 expatriate workers who made all the decisions and were paid much higher salaries than local staff.

"The JICT cooperatives were given a one percent share, but then without prior notice, the company sold nine-tenths of it to Grosbeak for US$3.7 million (Rp 32 billion). But we only received Rp 12.8 billion. Where did the rest of the money go?" Ermanto said.

"They said the money was used to pay the capital gains tax. But when we checked it with the tax office, there wasn't any such payment by JICT," he added.

Ermanto said the labor union has been investigating the case for a long time and even held a dialog earlier this month to study the case with experts from the Indonesian Institution of Reform Advocacy (LARI) as well as economist Sjahrir and legislator Paskah Suzetta.

The dialog concluded that collusion, corruption and nepotism (KKN) allegedly occurred in the privatization of JICT.

PT. Pelindo II spokesman Soedjarwo denied the alleged irregularities in the privatization.

"The price has been calculated with standard estimation involving several ministries. Don't compare it with Tanjung Perak as it has several better facilities and a higher growth rate of 16 percent, while ours is only six percent," he said, citing that the Surabaya seaport was 10 years younger than Tanjung Priok.

As for the sale of the cooperatives' 0.9 percent share, Soedjarwo said the company sold it because the government needed some money.

"Of course there are no JICT names in the tax office because it was put under the name of the Minister of Finance," he said.

He said the expatriates received higher salaries because they are paid in US dollars, but over the past five months the company has raised the salaries of JICT employees by 58 percent and increased the company's employment rate.

"On the second agreement with Grosbeak, we agreed to reduce the employment rate by 20 percent. But the management agreed to cancel the agreement so there won't be any employee reduction," he said. (09)