Railway union backs down, puts off strike

Railway union backs down, puts off strike

Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung

Responding to pressure from various quarters, the state
railway labor union decided on Saturday to postpone their planned
strike, in protest of the newly appointed railway directors,
slated for Monday to an unspecified date.

Nevertheless, the union's secretary general Amin Abdurachman
maintained the union's demand that the government replace newly
installed state railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI)
president Omar Berto.

"This is just a postponement, and not a cancellation (of the
strike). If there are no changes in the government policy on Omar
Berto, we could initiate the strike anytime," Amin told reporters
in Bandung, West Java, Saturday evening.

KAI's labor union initially threatened to go on strike and
halt executive trains in Java and cargo trains in Sumatra for
five days starting Monday if the new KAI board members did not
tender their resignation by Sunday.

The union expressed their disappointment over the government's
appointment of six directors for KAI, four of whom were from
within the company and were responsible for past mismanagement
which led to several deadly train accidents last year.

They especially expressed their opposition to the appointment
of Omar Berto, whom they claimed to be under-performing when he
was director of KAI business development and to be susceptible to
corruption.

Nevertheless, the government, through Vice President Hamzah
Haz and State Minister of State Enterprises Laksamana Sukardi,
urged the labor union to give the new management a chance to
prove their capabilities.

The Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) had also sent a
letter to the union requesting them to cancel the planned strike.

The House of Representatives' Commission IV, which deals with
transportation, will send its members to Bandung on Monday to
have a meeting with KAI employees.

The planned strike itself was actually met by cold responses
from employees at various KAI offices, including from Cirebon,
Semarang and from Bandung.

The head of the Bandung branch of the union, Sarwono, said his
branch would not go on strike as demanded by the central board of
the union. Nevertheless, Sarwono maintained that his branch still
vehemently opposed Berto's appointment as KAI president.