Garuda's pilots to delay industrial action

Garuda's pilots to delay industrial action

Arya Abhiseka
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

After causing much public anxiety, Garuda Indonesia's pilots
announced on Saturday to stave off their threats to disrupt
flights over demands for a raise and expressed their readiness to
sit down at the negotiating table.

Their decision came out only a day after the management played
down the threat of industrial action and armed itself with a
contingency plan, which included a signal to recruit foreign
pilots, if necessary.

It was not clear, however, if the pilots' move to withdraw
their threat was driven by the cold response from the flag
carrier's management.

Ari Safari, president of the Garuda Pilot Association,
nevertheless claimed that the pilots agreed to delay their
industrial action after talks with the Minister of Manpower and
Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea on Friday.

He said that the minister had agreed to mediate a talk between
the pilots and the management on Tuesday, Jan. 28.

"The minister has promised us he would be a mediator, and we
are also taking into account the public interest. Therefore, we
are willing to delay our industrial action," he said.

The pilots threatened on Tuesday to take industrial action
starting today if the management failed to meet their demands for
a higher salary.

Initially, the pilots planned to take part in a "labor
slowdown" from Jan. 26 to Feb. 1, which would cause an hour's
delay for all Garuda flights.

The second action would be undertaken from Feb. 2 to Feb. 9,
during which time the pilots would force all flights to be
delayed by five hours, if the management still refused to meet
their demands.

Then, starting Feb. 10, the pilots would go on strike if no
agreement had been reached.

The action was feared to disrupt domestic air transportation,
as Garuda carried about 40 percent of five million air travelers
on domestic routes last year.

The pilots, have not disclosed how much rise they demanded
from the management, fearing that disclosing their salaries might
cause public cynicism.

Garuda management, however, disclosed the figures: Pilots are
currently paid between Rp 7.9 million (US$887.6) and Rp 22.8
million a month.

According to the management, the pilots demanded monthly
salaries of between Rp 47.1 million and Rp 88.8 million.
Meanwhile, the management has only offered salaries of between Rp
13 million and Rp 24.6 million a month.

Ari said the figures were greater than the pilots' demands,
but he stopped short of disclosing the exact figures.

Garuda president director Indra Setiawan said that his airline
offered adequate income for its pilots, in relation to the
country's living costs.

"We pay our pilots' taxes, therefore they take home a net
income," he said.

In addition, he said that unlike other airlines which only
offered 2-year contracts, Garuda hired permanent employees and
offered pensions.

Indra said that pilots received about 20 percent of the
airline's monthly salary budget, while they only counted for 6.6
percent of total employees.

He also said that the current offer to pilots was the maximum
the company could bear, as it still owed a large amount of debt
to foreign creditors.

Garuda, which flies to 24 cities around the world, has just
recovered from financial woes after restructuring US$1.51 billion
in debts more than a year ago.