Garuda cabin crew union calls strike
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Despite a strike planned for Friday by national flag-carrier Garuda Indonesia cabin crew, the company assured on Thursday that the walkout had been anticipated and would not disrupt flights.
"We have more than 100 flights tomorrow (Friday) and have prepared a sufficient reserve of almost 300 (flight attendants to remain on duty)," Garuda president director Emirsyah Satar said as quoted by Antara.
"Just wait and see. I guarantee that Garuda flights will remain normal tomorrow," he added.
Asked about reports that Garuda would receive help from cabin crew members from Merpati Nusantara and Pelita Air to overcome the strike, Emirsyah said that would not be necessary since his company had about 2,300 cabin crew.
Separately, Garuda spokesman Pujobroto explained that flight attendants not participating in the strike would fill in for colleagues taking industrial action.
The Association of Garuda Indonesia Cabin Crew (Ikagi) claimed the strike would involve 95 percent of its 2,300 members, but the company's management said less than 1,000 would strike.
Ikagi chairman Zainuddin Malik reaffirmed on Thursday that cabin crew would stage a three-day strike over a salary dispute, starting Friday.
"As of 12 a.m. Friday, all cabin crew, either those on the ground or in the air, are asked to stay away from their workplaces and return home to wait for further instructions. We are ready with a series of actions for the three days," he said at a media conference in Jakarta.
Also in attendance were some 60 cabin crew members and a number of labor activists from the Confederation of All- Indonesian Workers Unions, the Confederation of Indonesian Prosperity Trade Unions, the International Transport Federation (ITF), Indonesian Seafarers Association (KPI), which is giving moral support for the strike.
Zainuddin said the strike would go ahead to fight for better pay and improvement of labor conditions, despite alleged intimidation and threats by the Garuda management.
Cabin crew said the management had set Aug. 10 as a deadline for them to state opposition to the strike, otherwise they would be punished.
They condemned what they called intimidation and unilateral action when the Ikagi office at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport was sealed off.
The protesters accused the management of lacking commitment to settling the dispute.
"Management is panicked over the financial crisis, the airline's tarnished image and the fierce competition with domestic and foreign airlines. It seems unable to carry out recovery plans to pay its domestic and foreign debts reaching up to US$820 million, and it suffered losses of Rp 520 billion over the last two months," said Hanafi Rustandi, ITF's representative in Indonesia.
Some cabin crew members said they would strike because they could no longer endure the unfair treatment by Garuda, especially its discriminative remuneration system.
Haryanti, who has been a Garuda flight attendant for 11 years, said flight attendants with zero work experience were paid only Rp 1.4 million monthly while a first-time pilot was paid Rp 6.7 million.
"After working for 11 years, my gross monthly salary is only Rp 2.3 million and supplies of things like uniforms and stockings are very limited, so that we have to use our own money to buy such things for our work," she said.
Bambang, another flight attendant, said he had worked 20 years for Garuda but his gross monthly salary was only Rp 5.6 million.
"Although, cabin crew also receive a Rp 100,000 attendance fee per day for domestic flights and around Rp 9,000 per hour on flights abroad," he added.