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.