Governor 'shocked' by busway strike
Governor 'shocked' by busway strike
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Four days after asking bus drivers to make the TransJakarta
Busway project launch a perfect one, Governor Sutiyoso was
shocked to discover 30 had gone on strike, demanding clarity in
their employment contracts and extra allowances besides their
basic salaries.
"Strike?" he asked, almost speechless.
City spokesman Muhayat was quick to answer reporters'
questions. "There is no strike, Pak. That information came from
busway operator Jakarta Express Trans. (The strike) is only a
rumor which needs to be checked."
Reports on Friday said 30 of the 198 busway drivers had gone
on strike.
The drivers said their Rp 2 million (US$238) basic monthly
take-home salaries were lower than their previous incomes as
regular buses drivers. They usually brought home Rp 2.5 million
per month.
To express their protest, the striking drivers returned their
busway uniforms.
One busway driver said he personally knew of several drivers
who refused to go to work on Thursday.
"At least four busway drivers are ready to resign. They failed
to show up today," he said on Friday.
Sutiyoso said he had promised drivers he would look after
their welfare. "If they insist on striking, we'll replace them
with other drivers," he said.
For some drivers, however, the protest was shortlived, a
number of them returning to work later in the day.
In other developments, the city administration discovered on
Friday the lane divider on Jl. Majapahit had been placed wrongly.
The Jakarta Post observed that workers from the City
Transportation Agency marked the road to indicate a new lane
divider.
The administration confirmed the error, and said it planned to
shift the divider.
"If our evaluation shows that the lane divider is in the wrong
place, then we will move it," Sutiyoso said.
He told TransJakarta Busway management head Irzal Djamal and
transportation agency head Rustam Effendy to immediately check on
the progress of the busway's implementation.
Sutiyoso said his officials would continue to iron out any
flaws discovered in the implementation of the busway.
"We hope to minimize similar problems when opening new busway
corridors in the future," he said.
Thursday's busway kickoff was marred by several incidents,
including the breaking of an iron handrail on a bus.
Five of the 56 buses also failed to operate on Thursday after
they experienced engine troubles and other technical problems.
They are being repaired at Pinang Ranti busway poll in East
Jakarta.
Several buses plying the route overlapping the busway corridor
from Blok M in South Jakarta and Kota in West Jakarta were still
operating on Friday.