JAKARTA: More than 90 percent of national flag carrier PT

JAKARTA: More than 90 percent of national flag carrier PT
Garuda Indonesia's maintenance workers have agreed to be
transferred to a subsidiary the airline plans to set up, the
airline said in a press release on Wednesday.

As of Wednesday, 2,490, or 90.6 percent, of the total 2,750
technicians working in the firm's maintenance unit had agreed to
join PT Garuda Maintenance Facility Aero-Asia (GMF-AA), while the
remaining 260 technicians had yet to make up their minds, the
airline said.

The deadline for the remaining technicians to decide was Aug.
7.

As a part of the government's 2002 - 20003 public sector
master plan, Garuda is seeking to concentrate on core flight
services, and as a result will spin off its non-core business
units, including the maintenance unit.

Garuda has thus been trying to persuade its maintenance
workers to move to GMF-AA, which it set up in 2002.

However, some of the technicians have been refusing to be
transferred for months arguing that GMF-AA was a new company that
lacked clear plans and strategies. -JP