Railway workers plan strike
Railway workers plan strike
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
More than 1,000 workers and retirees of state-owned railway
company PT Kereta Api Indonesia (PT KAI) staged a demonstration
here on Tuesday, demanding the government improve their working
conditions.
The demonstrators, who came from Sumatra and Java, marched
from the Gambir Railway Station to the Ministry of
Transportation, past the office of the State Minister of State
Enterprises and the Supreme Court, encircling the National
Monument (Monas) and causing big traffic jams along the way
during morning peak hours.
They said that as a last resort they would call for a national
strike if the government failed to respond positively to their
demands.
"The national strike will be the last resort if the government
and management do not meet our demands," Amien Abdurrahman,
chairman of the Railway Workers Union (SPKA), said during the
demonstration.
Amien said the demonstration was organized to express
employees' disappointment with the government and the management,
which they said had failed to fulfill their pledge to improve the
workers social welfare following the change of the company's
status from non profit-oriented (Perjan) to profit-oriented
(Perum) in 1992 and later into a limited liability company.
Wahyu, a retiring employee, said most workers who have retired
since 1992 have not yet received any pension benefits.
"Labor conditions remained poor when the government changed
the company's status into a limited liability (PT) in the 1990s.
What's worse, workers are not registered with social security
programs (Jamsostek). This has worsened the company's
performance. It is not only the company's service to the public
which is bad, but also a series of accidents have happened over
the last few years," Amien said.
The demonstrators dispersed peacefully after 15
representatives were received by several staff members of the
Transportation Ministry and of the minister of state enterprises.
Both sides agreed to hold a series of meetings to seek a
comprehensive solution to all problems plaguing the company.