KAI employees threaten to hold strike
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.