Garuda agrees to raise pilots' salary

Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The management of national flagship carrier Garuda Indonesia agreed on Friday to raise the salary of its pilots by 35 percent, ending a three-week stand-off marred by threats of a mass strike.

"The management has agreed to raise the salary (of the pilots) by 35 percent," Ferdinand Nainggolan, deputy for logistics and transportation of the office of the State Minister of State Enterprises, announced during a press conference. He added that non-pilot employees would receive a 25 percent salary hike.

The pilots had initially demanded a 39 percent salary hike.

For weeks, Garuda pilots and co-pilots have been fighting for an increase in their salaries, claiming that they were much lower than the international standard in the field of commercial aviation. Some of the pilots had even threatened to go on strike, which would have disrupted flight services nationwide.

State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi and Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea intervened and persuaded the pilots not to act on their threat.

Garuda management was initially reluctant to bow to the pilots' demands for a salary hike, arguing that there were not enough funds to meet the demand.

The national airline had only recently managed to raise itself out of years of financial turbulence.

The newly proposed salary package offers co-pilots a base salary of between Rp 6.7 million (US$753) and Rp 11.6 million, and pilots, between Rp 13.5 million and Rp 23.3 million.

"What is most important is that we have ended the crisis," Ferdinand said.

Garuda pilots were not available for comment.

Meanwhile, Ferdinand said that this case would serve as a valuable lesson for Garuda management to improve the remuneration system in the company, to avoid a similar crisis in the future.

"The management will hire a consulting firm to conduct a benchmark study with domestic and international airlines, which have the best salary system," he said.