Labor disputes at aircraft industry grow complicated
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung
Complications have thwarted progress in the labor disputes at state-owned aircraft manufacturing industry PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) after the management and the Forum of Communications for Employees, the company's labor union, took matters into their own hands.
The management suspended the labor union's two executives after workers walked off the job at the company's facilities in Bandung, West Java, on Tuesday.
PT DI president Jusman S. Djamal said Arif Minardi, chairman of the labor union, and A.M. Bone, the union's secretary-general, were suspended for violating the law.
"The management agreed to suspend the two men because they rejected seeking a comprehensive solution to the disputes," he said.
He said the management was concerned over the continued labor strike, which was a violation of the no-strike agreement reached by both sides last year.
"Shutting down the company's factory was a violation of the law and is an intolerable action the management must protest and the workers have cut their own throat," he said, adding that the management had sent a letter to Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea to ask for permission to dismiss the two labor activists.
Separately, Arif and Bone rejected their suspension, saying that the decision was not effective and invalid as it was made by the management unilaterally.
Some 1,000 of the company's 9,000 employees stayed off the job, shutting down two factories, because they said that the new management was unable to handle the corrupt, collusive and nepotistic practices in the company.
The workers also said the management did not show commitment in complying with the agreements reached by both sides at Hanomann Hotel last year, including on the cases of alleged corruption.
The agreements stipulate, among other things, an investigation into alleged corruption in the company and an increase in pension funds for retired workers.
The workers also protested the payment of Rp 1 million an hour for lawyers who were recruited to accompany the executives undergoing investigation in the corruption cases, a fee the management has denied paying.
The labor union has reported the findings made by the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), of two cases of corruption in 1998 and 1999 to the management, but they have yet to be followed up.
The management has yet to investigate corruption charges of Rp 4 billion at the company's aircraft service division in 1999 and the disappearance of 18 NC-212 aircraft engines worth US$400,000 in 1998.
Air Force chief Adm. Hanafie Asnan, as a commissioner of the company, said he regretted the factories being shut down, adding that the management should take strict measures against the workers' actions.
He compared the incident to a coup d'etat, an action that broke the law.
Hanafie was visiting the air defense unit near PT DI's plant in the city.
"In the military, this kind of (labor) action is considered a coup that must be quelled immediately," he said, while laughing at the protesters.
He said the continued labor strike had a lot to do with the large number of inactive workers at the company resulting from a decrease in orders.
The labor strike could affect the company's credibility overseas, he added.