Labor disputes at aircraft industry grow complicated

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.