KPC workers continue blockade despite pact

KPC workers continue blockade despite pact

JAKARTA (JP): Striking workers at coal mining company PT
Kaltim Prima Coal are continuing their blockade of the mine in
Sanggata regency, East Kalimantan, despite an earlier agreement
to end the strike, a company executive said on Thursday.

KPC representative for Jakarta Bambang Susanto said the
striking workers had rejected the final settlement reached in
Jakarta between representatives of the workers and the company.

"The moment the workers heard about the results of our
negotiations, they rejected them," Bambang told The Jakarta Post.

The results of the negotiation called for the workers to end
their strike and lift the ban in order for discussions to resume.

The workers demand, among other things, a salary increase of
15 percent and the reinstallment of daily allowances.

However, Bambang said the negotiations were conducted with the
workers' knowledge.

"Before agreeing on the final outcome, the workers'
representative contacted the striking workers at the site for
their approval," he said.

He added that the workers apparently backed away from their
initial accord and were now refusing two points of the
settlement.

"They (the striking workers) reject any disciplinary warning
letters from the company, and they reject being paid only 50
percent in salary during their strike," he said.

KPC stopped operations on Tuesday for the second time in less
than five weeks.

Bambang said the company may declare a second force majeure to
its customers in two to three days when it runs out of its coal
stockpile.

Besides KPC president Grant Thorne, senior officials from the
Ministry of Manpower, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry (Kadin), the Ministry of Mines and Energy and Muchtar
Pakpahan, the chairman of the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union
(SBSI), which organized the strike, also joined the negotiations.

He also said the issue had turned into an internal affair
between the central SBSI and its KPC branch.

"It is not our problem that the local chapter of SBSI has
rejected the agreement, it's their superior's decision. We expect
SBSI to honor their deal with us," he said.

SBSI is one of three labor unions at KPC, and its members
consist of only 150 workers from about 2,600 working for the
company.

He said in the latest development, workers had also begun to
blockade the access road to the company's office with large
vehicles.

"We have some 50 workers occupying the mine. They are doing
rotating shifts with their friends," he added.

Bambang said about 200 police officers were on standby at the
site, but they did not disperse the striking workers.

"The key word here is law enforcement," he said.

Director General of General Mining Surna T. Djadjadiningrat
said the issue had become a test case for the local government to
handle disputes involving foreign investors.

"It's a local dispute, and the local government has shown that
it lacks capability in solving it," he said.

Surna urged the local government to make efforts to facilitate
a dialog between the company and the protesting workers.

"I think its just a matter of how to better inform the workers
on the outcome of the negotiations," he said.

KPC is jointly owned by giant British-Australian mining
company Rio Tinto and the British-American-based oil and gas
company BP Amoco Plc. (bkm)