Labor union supports change in oil labor system

Labor union supports change in oil labor system

Moch N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Indonesia's leading labor union welcomed the government's plan
to improve standards of employment in the country's oil and gas
sector on Thursday, saying that the unjust treatment of workers,
in particular temporary workers, has been rampant throughout the
industry.

Andi William Sinaga, secretary general of the Indonesian Labor
Union (SBSI), which is known for its strong presence among the
oil and gas workers of the country, called on the government to
end the injustices as soon as possible.

"Many oil and gas companies, as well as their sub-contractors,
have often recruited workers on a temporary basis, and
arbitrarily extended their contracts on repeated occasions so
that the workers never get permanent employment status," Andi
told The Jakarta Post. "This is inhumane"

Andi added that, within such a scheme, oil and gas companies
and their sub-contractors have been able to cut their costs at
the expense of many workers.

Abuses of the rights of temporary workers have taken place not
only in the oil and gas industry, but in other industry sectors
as well.

It is for this reason that the government should prohibit any
companies from recruiting workers on a temporary basis, Andi
said.

SBSI was blamed for organizing several big labor strikes in
the past several years, including one at American oil and gas
companies PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia in Riau, and Vico Indonesia
in East Kalimantan.

"The main purpose of the strikes was to force the companies to
stop employing workers on temporary basis, and instead give them
a permanent status," Andi said.

Andi made the statement following concerns voiced by Minister
of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea on Wednesday
regarding the fate of temporary workers in the oil and gas
industry.

Jacob said that he had proposed to the Minister of Energy and
Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro to revoke Decree No.
5/1995, issued by Ministry of Manpower on temporary working
agreements in oil and gas companies as part of plans to improve
the sector's working system.

The decree, he said, has loopholes which allow oil and gas
companies to employ workers on a temporary basis for as long as
20 years. It is a decree, he said, that fails to respect workers
as human beings.

Under the Decree No. 3/1995 issued by the Ministry of
Manpower, a company can only sign up temporary workers for two
years and extend the contract to one year at the maximum.

Meanwhile, Caltex on Thursday denied reports by The Jakarta
Post that the company had 20,000 temporary workers, as opposed
with 6,000 permanent workers.

The Post mistakenly attributed the statement to Caltex's
spokesman, Renville Almatsier, when it was actually came from an
official of the state oil and gas company Pertamina, who wished
to remain anonymous.

"Caltex does not have 20,000 temporary workers. Caltex has a
total workforce of over 6,500 permanent employees. In fact, we
changed our remaining temporary employees over to permanent
status in 2001. Today, we have no temporary employees.

"Our business partners, who work under various contracts of
our operations, have over 23,000 employees," Renville said in a
statement on Thursday.