Garuda cabin crews threaten to walk out for more pay

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

More than 2,300 cabin attendants with national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia have threatened to walk off the job from Aug. 12 to Aug. 14 unless management meets their demands for a salary hike and other benefits.

Meanwhile, employees of state-owned rail/train company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) said they would also go ahead with a plan to stage a nationwide strike later if negotiation with the government on Friday for better pay and benefits failed.

The chairman of the Association of Garuda Cabin Attendants (Ikagi), Zainuddin Malik, said here on Thursday that the planned strike was already assured because there had been no signs the management would meet their demands.

He also said that Ikagi had informed customers of the planned work stoppage, calling on them to rearrange their trip schedule under such a force majeure condition.

"Flight attendants will continue working to serve flights to Aceh for humanitarian reasons because some of the Garuda customers (flying) to the tsunami-devastated province are volunteers and activists," he added.

Zainuddin said the cabin attendants decided to go on strike because both bipartite and tripartite negotiations over a number of industrial disputes had remained deadlocked.

He also said that the management had treated Garuda employees with discrimination as pilots and co-pilots had recently obtained a better remuneration package than the one given to other crew members.

He went on to add that Ikagi was aware of the monetary losses the company would likely suffer from the strike but it was the last resort for the workers in fighting for their rights since a series of negotiations conducted since 2003 had concluded without any concrete results.

Separately, Garuda spokesman Pudjobroto appealed to cabin attendants to suspend their planned strike as it would certainly bring a bout an adverse impact on the company, saying that the management was open to negotiation and dialog to solve the (internal) disputes.

"Garuda has hired a renowned consulting company to review the remuneration system, which is similar to those used by foreign airline companies. This is aimed at improving the employees' social welfare and the company's service," he said.

Separately, the chairman of the Railway Labor Union (SPKA), Amien Abdurrahman, stressed that thousands of KAI employees in Java and Sumatra would certainly strike from Aug. 8 to Aug. 10 if no agreement was reached with the government within the next few days.

"The threat is still on but whether the strike will happen or not depends on the negotiation between SPKA, Minister of Transportation Hatta Radjasa and State Minister for State Enterprises Sugiharto on Friday," he said.

SPKA has threatened a national strike, demanding the government to return to them their status as civil servants because their salaries had not improved under their current status as ordinary employees.

Millions of passengers will be stranded and many areas of Java and Sumatra may run short of basic commodities if KAI stops operating.