House asks Tripatra to settle dispute
House asks Tripatra to settle dispute
JAKARTA (JP): The House of Representatives urged on Tuesday
construction company PT Tripatra, a subcontractor of American oil
company PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia, and its employees to settle
a six-week strike.
A member of House Commission V for industry and manpower,
Anthonius Rahail, said the company and the workers needed to
settle the dispute to avoid damaging Caltex's operation and the
local community in Duri, Riau.
"The commission asked Tripatra, the workers and other
concerned parties to set up a forum to discuss a way to end the
dispute," Rahail, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI), said after a hearing between the commission and
representatives of the workers, a number of labor organizations
and Tripatra.
Officials from PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia and state-owned oil
and gas company Pertamina were also present at the meeting.
About 8,000 of Tripatra's 9,700 contract workers went on
strike on June 21 at Caltex's facilities in Duri. The striking
workers demanded higher severance pay.
Tripatra rejected the workers' demand, saying the amount of
severance pay provided by the company was consistent with
existing regulations.
Caltex spokesman Renville Almatsier said the number of
striking workers had dwindled to 200.
The strike received international attention on Friday when
about 150 American union activists protested at the Washington
office of United States energy firm Texaco Inc. -- which owns
Caltex in partnership with Chevron Corp. of the United States.
The activists were protesting against alleged labor and human
rights violations by Tripatra.
The activists claimed Tripatra harassed its striking workers
and brought in security personnel to break up the strike.
In the talks with the House, a number of labor activists
threatened to burn Caltex's facilities unless Tripatra was
willing to meet workers' demand by Aug. 10.
Rahail said the commission asked the activists to refrain from
such criminal actions.
Rahail noted that Tripatra was ready to reemploy workers once
they ended their strike.
Tripatra has fired many of the striking workers according to
the regulation which allows companies to dismiss employees who
are absent from work for more than five days in a row.
Almatsier said the striking workers were involved in the
construction of Caltex's oil production infrastructure, including
buildings and tanks. He added that the strike had not slowed the
company's total oil production of some 760,000 barrels a day.
"The strike so far hasn't hurt Caltex's production." (jsk)