Garuda pilots seek pay rise, threaten to go on strike

Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Having recently recovered from serious financial troubles, Garuda Indonesia is facing a new challenge after its pilots threatened on Tuesday to take labor actions, including going on strike, unless the airline increased their pay.

A strike, if it materialized, would certainly hurt the national carrier's reputation and disrupt air travel across the country.

The airline carried about five million, or 44 percent, of an estimated 11.4 million air travelers on domestic routes last year.

Ari Safari, president of the Garuda Pilot Association, which says it represents all Garuda's 639 pilots, said at a press conference that the pilots would go on strike unless the management agreed to raise their salaries, benefits and bonuses, and improve the "pilot placement system".

He did not reveal how much more money the pilots were seeking, saying it would be "unethical" to discuss their demands in the media.

Ari said that from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1 pilots would take part in a "labor slowdown", causing an hour delay for all flights.

From Feb. 2 to Feb. 9, should the management continue to reject their demands, the pilots would force all flights to be delayed by five hours.

If the management still refuses to meet their demands, the pilots will go on strike on Feb. 10, he said.

"We ran the strike plan by the International Federation Airline Pilot Association and they supported us by banning Garuda from recruiting new pilots during the strike," he said.

Ari said his association had been in talks with management since September 2001 over the pay issue, but the two sides had been unable to come to an agreement.

"We have done comparative studies with other flag carriers, namely in Asia and Australia, and our pay demand is still more than 50 percent lower than the international standard," Ari said.

Singgih Handoyo, a Garuda spokesman, said pilots currently received a basic salary of between Rp 7.9 million (US$887.60) and Rp 22.8 million per month.

He said the Garuda management had offered pilots a new salary structure of between Rp 13 million and Rp 24.6 million a month, but the association had demanded between Rp 47 million and Rp 88.8 million.

"Their demand is unrealistic in view of the company's financial condition," Singgih said.

After years of financial crisis, Garuda Indonesia only began to record a profit in 1999. In 2001, Garuda booked a profit of Rp 262 billion.