PPD drivers protest poor treatment

PPD drivers protest poor treatment

JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of drivers from the state-owned bus
company PPD staged a peaceful protest in front of the PPD head
office in Halim, East Jakarta, yesterday, to demand better
treatment from the company management.

The drivers, who called themselves the PPD Drivers Solidarity,
also demanded the resignation of the board of directors and the
heads of the company's nine bus pools.

Joni, a driver, said the company never paid attention to the
welfare of its employees.

"We do not get our full rights as employees. The company never
explains to us why we do not get what we are entitled to,
including proper salaries, health insurance and death
allowances," he said.

He said the company had cut contributions to drivers' pension
funds and insurance schemes, and consistently failed to fulfill
its responsibility to pay hospital fees for drivers who are ill.

"We have to pay all the fees ourselves and then ask the
company to reimburse us. Sometimes one year goes by before we get
the money back," Joni, who has been a PPD driver for 22 years,
said.

Another driver named Ahmad said that hospitals were no longer
willing to admit PPD drivers as patients because they do not
believe the bus company will pay for the treatment.

"A hospital where I went told me that they would prefer to be
paid in cash instead of through my health insurance because they
anticipated problems in claiming the money back from PPD," he
said.

The drivers also demanded an increase in their rice allowance
and basic salaries.

Joni said that his allowance and salary failed to cover his
daily needs.

"A driver with three children is entitled to a 50-kilogram
rice allowance, which is given in the form of a monthly cash
payment. But they only give us Rp 37,000. What rice in the world
can we buy with that money?" he said with an angry tone in his
voice.

Basic salary

Joni also complained about the basic salary of Rp 4,600 per
day which is well below the government standard of around Rp
7,000.

The drivers said they had tried to talk through problems with
the board of directors dozen of times, however senior company
officials had refused to meet them on every occasion.

Head of public relations for PPD, Moch. Khamim, told reporters
that no directors were available to meet with the drivers
yesterday.

"The directors do not want to meet with the drivers because
the latter did not follow the correct procedures for staging
their protest. The drivers must deliver their demands through
their superiors in each pool," he said.

Khamim admitted that the company had been beset by several
problems recently, mostly related to its financial condition.

"PPD suffered losses of around Rp 29.7 billion in 1996 and Rp
18.9 billion last year," he said.

The losses were caused by several factors, including the
company's inability to optimize operations because it employed
too many drivers for the small number of road-worthy buses which
it owns.

"Around 900 drivers have to work shifts to operate 700 buses.
We actually have 1,200 buses but the remaining 500 are not in
good condition," he said.

Khamim said that 85 percent of the company's 1,200 buses were
between five and 15 years old.

"We can't meet our daily target revenue of Rp 200 million. We
only get around Rp 150 million," he said.

Khamin rejected accusations that the company did not care
about driver welfare, saying that it always tried to fulfill its
responsibilities to the drivers. (cst)