Govt to dismiss 2,000 to restructure PPD
Govt to dismiss 2,000 to restructure PPD
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Adding insult to injury of the employees of state-owned Djakarta
Transportation bus company (PPD), the government has planned to
lay off about 2,000 workers as part of its efforts to improve the
company's feasibility.
Minister for Transportation and Telecommunication Agum Gumelar
said on Thursday that the dismissal would take place within the
next six months, and added that the company would buy 150 new
buses during the same period.
"To restructure the company, we have to buy more buses and
reduce the number of employees," the minister said, adding that
the restructuring was being supervised by the office of the State
Minister of State Enterprises.
He said that currently, the company employed 12 workers to run
a single bus, while the ideal number was five workers per bus.
"We have 450 operating buses and plan to buy 150 more," Agum
said, and explained that this plan would improve the ratio of
crews to buses.
The company has about 5,000 workers, but with the new
arrangement, it would only need 3,000 workers to operate 600
buses.
"We have to do this to improve the performance of the company
and to provide better public services for the people, and we need
public support on this issue," Agum remarked.
His comment came a day after PPD workers went on strike to
protest the company's inability to pay their salaries for the
last three months.
In response to the strike, Minister of Manpower and
Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea planned to hold a meeting between
PPD employees and management on April 14.
Wednesday's strike was the latest incident in the prolonged
dispute of the company, which has suffered many losses and is
renowned for providing substandard public service.
The central government once proposed to the Jakarta
administration to take over the company, but the city was
reluctant to accept the proposal, as they would also be taking
over PPD's huge loans.
Agum said that the government needed about Rp 190 billion
(US$21.6million) to finance the restructuring and that the money
would be raised by selling several assets of the company.
"For severance pay, the company needs around Rp 100 billion,
while it needs Rp 30 billion to buy buses and Rp 33 billion to
pay the employees' monthly salaries, and the remaining balance
for supporting the six-month restructuring program," Agum said.
He said the asset sales was expected to generate about Rp 200
billion for the government.