Paiton's workers plan strike

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Workers at the giant power plant owned by PT Paiton Energy in Probolinggo, East Java, have threatened to launch a two-day strike starting next Wednesday in a bid to get "compensation" from their employer.

PT Edison Mission Operations and Maintenance Indonesia (EMOMI), which operates and maintains the power plant, said the management had tried to negotiate with the workers, but the efforts had thus far failed to bear fruit.

"Any strike action would have a big impact on millions of Indonesians," EMOMI said in a statement on Friday.

The power plant, which is better known as Paiton Swasta I, is one of the main suppliers of power to the Java-Bali grid. It has two generation units with having a capacity of 615 Megawatts. A disruption at Paiton would thus have a serious impact on power supplies on both islands.

Paiton Energy is owned by U.S.-based Edison Mission Energy (EME), the holding company of EMOMI; Japanese firm Mitsui, American firm General Electric and local firm PT Batu Hitam Perkasa.

EMOMI said the workers were demanding what they termed "compensation" following the sale by EME of its international assets in several countries. It did not specify the buyers of the assets.

The workers argued that under the Manpower Law (No. 13/2003), they were entitled to be paid "compensation" following on from asset sales. However, EMOMI's management rejected their argument, saying they had no such right as the asset sales did not affect the ownership structure of EME's assets in Indonesia.

EMOMI warned the workers against going ahead with the strike plan, saying a strike would be against the law and the workers could be jailed or fined for their actions.

According to the firm, the strike would jeopardize electricity supplies and, under the Electricity Law (No.20/2002), anyone who disrupts electricity supplies to the public can be jailed for a maximum of three years or fined a maximum of Rp 500 million.