Labor protest paralyzes Caltex
Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau
Activities at the offices of PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia in Riau province came to a complete halt on Tuesday as thousands of workers of one of its contractors staged a protest demanding higher severance pay.
Close to 4,000 workers of PT Tripatra, a contractor of Caltex, a United States oil company, blocked all roads to the PT Caltex offices in Pekanbaru and Duri, some 150 kilometers north of Pekanbaru, preventing about 650 employees of PT Caltex in both offices from going to their workplaces.
Security personnel were deployed to guard the two offices. They blocked all roads leading to the Caltex officers to prevent anything untoward from happening. They were also guarding vital installations in the compound.
Roads leading to the Caltex employee housing complex in Pekanbaru were also blocked by security officers.
The protesters demanded that PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia be held responsible for the fate of over 3,700 workers PT Tripatra plans to lay off due to a significant decrease in construction orders from PT Caltex.
"Caltex should also be held responsible for the fate of the 3,700 Triputra workers," said labor leader Dian Iskandar.
The management of PT Tripatra has already talked to the affected workers, offering them a voluntary redundancy scheme under which each laid-off worker is to receive severance pay of up to Rp 27 million.
The workers, however, rejected the offer, arguing that the compensation offered by PT Tripatra is too little.
They alleged that the employees of other Caltex contractors who were laid off had received up to Rp 100 million each in severance pay.
Chairman of the Tripatra Employees Communication Forum, B. Sipahutar, said on Tuesday that they would mobilize more workers if their demands went unheeded.
"This is a big problem affecting the lives of some 3,700 workers," he said.
Sipahutar accused Riau manpower and transmigration officials of being inconsistent in fighting for the rights of Tripatra employees.
Sipahutar particularly pointed to moves by officials who sent letters to some Tripatra employees urging them to accept the voluntary resignation scheme proposed by Tripatra.
PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia Communications and Media Relations Manager Hanafi Kadir told The Jakarta Post Tuesday that the oil company's offices in Duri and Pekanbaru were completely paralyzed as the two areas were fully under the control of the protesting workers.
He said some 650 employees of Caltex could not come to work on Tuesday.
According to Hanafi, the workers' demand that Caltex be held responsible for the fate of the 3,700 workers its contractor wanted to lay off was absurd as the company had no employment relations with them.
"The relations between Caltex and Tripatra is not employment contract relationship, so Caltex cannot be held responsible for the workers' fate.
"The workers have to address their demands to the management of Tripatra directly, not Caltex," Hanafi said.