No unloading at Tanjung Perak

SURABAYA: Loading and unloading activities at Tanjung Perak Port have been at a standstill for last three days because of strikes by some 6,000 dock workers demanding higher wages.

The port administration had agreed to a 31 percent increase in their daily wages from Rp 7,116, but the dock workers insisted on an increase to Rp 15,000 a day, Antara reported.

Yesterday, the dock workers marched to the East Java Legislative Council building to press their demand.

R.M. Buchary, the chief of the Tanjung Perak Port Administration, said the 31 percent increase was the best offer that the companies operating in the port could come up with in view of the current economic crisis.

He called on dock workers to return to work and settle the remaining differences through negotiations.

Supenan, head of the Services Division of PT Pelindo III, the state company managing the port, said the strike was costing shipping companies a lot of money because they were having to dock their ships longer than needed.

He estimated that the strike had already caused losses of Rp 2 billion. (emb)