KAI employees threaten to hold strike
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
The labor union for the state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) demanded on Thursday that the company's newly appointed board of directors immediately step down or the employees would hold a general strike and halt train operations in Java and Sumatra.
Union chief Andjar Sasongko said that the new management had no credibility because four of the six new directors were recruited from within the company, and were also responsible for past mismanagement which led to dozens of deadly train collisions in 2001.
The accidents prompted the previous KAI board of directors to resign en masse amid strong public criticism.
"This (new management team) does not reflect the aspirations of employees. The selection process was also not transparent," Andjar said during a meeting with the board of directors at the KAI headquarters building.
He said that the "new" KAI officials were given until late on Sunday to tender their resignation.
The six directors installed on Wednesday, are Omar Berto as president, Syahrizal Siregar as technical director, Juda Sitepu as operations director, Masjrahul Hidayat as director of human resources, Imam Pamudji as director of finance and Edward Bosi Mardohat as director of business development.
The first four were recruited from within the company. Omar, for instance, was the former director of business development who resigned in December. The other three were previously in senior positions at KAI.
Andjar said that if the labor union's demand was not fulfilled by the Sunday midnight deadline, the employees would launch a general strike and halt the operation of trains in Java and Sumatra.
He said that the first target would be to stop the operation of the Babaranjang coal train in South Sumatra on Monday for 24 hours.
The next day, the strike would affect the KA Parahyangan train operation, KA Argo Gede (all connecting Jakarta-Bandung), KA Mutiara (Bandung-Surabaya) and the KA Argo Willis (connecting Jakarta-Surabaya).
On Wednesday, all activities of the executive-class KA Argo trains would be halted for 24 hours.
On Thursday and Friday, all train operations in West Sumatra would be canceled.
Meanwhile, Omar said that the planned strike was not representative of all KAI employees, and insisted that the new management team be given a chance to prove their ability.