Garuda pilots seek pay rise, threaten to go on strike
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.