Garuda agrees to raise pilots' salary
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.