Official says airport strike 'unnecessary'

Official says airport strike 'unnecessary'

JAKARTA (JP): The airport employees' plan to hold a mass
protest on Monday demanding the government restore their civil
servant status is unnecessary and will only disrupt the country's
image worldwide, an official said on Sunday.

"It's unnecessary to demand a change in our status from
private company employees to government employees," head of
Passenger and Luggage Services at PT Gapura Angkasa, Hendro
Wahyu, told The Jakarta Post at his office in the Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport compound.

He said many other employees, from the protesting group, were
satisfied with their current status as private company employees.

"They (the protesting employees) should not bother with their
status. We (all employees) have been lucky enough, because
despite the economic turmoil, we still have our jobs," he said.

Hendro was commenting on the plan by the company's some 200
employees to hold a mass protest on Monday demanding that their
civil servant status be restored.

PT Gapura Angkasa is a private joint venture company, co-
established by national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia Airways
and the airport's management, PT Angkasa Pura. A sole company, it
handles ground services, such as check-in and boarding facilities
for Garuda.

Hendro said Garuda transferred 1,600 of its employees to PT
Gapura in 1998, as part of the company's restructuring program
after Gaurda suffered significant losses due to the plunge of the
rupiah against the U.S. dollar.

He said about 85 percent of the company's employees were from
Garuda.

Hendro lambasted the planned strike, saying that passengers
and the country in general would suffer.

"Since Garuda also serves foreign passengers, the strike, if
carried out, will also harm the country's international
reputation," he said.

He called on the protesters to air their demand through the
appropriate channel.

"It would be better if they filed their demand at the
company's workers union," he said.

Elman Haloho and M.Y.C. Werdiningsih, claiming to represent
230 of the company's 1,200 employees at the airport, disclosed
their plan to stage the protest to the media on Friday.

The employees demanded the government return their civil
servant status and put them back under Garuda's supervision. The
protest is scheduled to start at 4 a.m. on Monday, or the
beginning of the company's first working shift of the day.

Nurdianto, an employee of PT Gapura, said the strike would
disturb Garuda's flight schedules.

"Airplanes can't depart if the strike is carried out, as only
a few employees will be providing check-in and luggage handling
services," he told the Post at the airport, adding that there
were 60 Garuda flights on Monday alone.

He said he had received information that the strike would be
held in terminals E and F.

"These terminals serve mostly Garuda airplanes," he said.

Nurdianto said PT Gapura also served other airlines, such as
KLM, China Southern Airlines, Korean Air and China Airlines.

Separately, Garuda spokesman Pujobroto said the planned strike
was an internal matter of PT Gapura Angkasa.

"The employees signed the agreement that they were willing to
be moved to PT Gapura Angkasa," he told the Post by phone on
Sunday.

He said Garuda was coordinating with PT Gapura Angkasa to
provide reserve employees to ensure that passengers would receive
the company's services.

"We can assure passengers that the strike will not disrupt
flights," he said. (asa)