'RCTI' journalists plan strike
JAKARTA (JP): At least 41 employees of the editorial department of private television station RCTI threatened to go on strike on Wednesday if the department's three head editors did not resign, the employees said in a statement on Monday.
The employees demanded that Chrys Kelana, the chief editor, and Adolf Posuma and Desi Anwar, both deputy chief editors, quit as they believed the three were incapable.
"We urge the management to audit the editors since we view them to be incapable of creating a conducive working environment. The editors are feared to be incapable of leading an independent and ethical editorial department," the statement said as quoted by Antara.
According to the statement, the dispute started when the employees submitted to management on June 7 a no-confidence petition against the three.
Receiving no reply, the employees repeated their demands on July 20, threatening to go on strike if they were not answered.
One of the employees, M. Iskandar, asked RCTI's acting president, Harry Kuntoro, to pay attention to the petition.
Iskandar said he deplored the "telephone terrorizing" conducted against families of the employees who submitted the petition.
"The terrorizing must stop. The management should discuss the matter in a better way, since the petition was made according to the rules and in an ethical way," he said.
RCTI spokesman Eduard Depari confirmed that the 41 employees, including reporters and cameramen, had submitted the petition.
"We are still discussing their demands internally," Eduard told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Eduard expressed regret over the journalists' plan to strike, saying it was an internal matter.
"The protesting staff should not gain sympathy from the public since it is an internal matter. Their action could become counterproductive," he said.
He denied allegations that a certain group was trying to control the policy in the editorial department. "The public still watch our news. You can judge for yourself," he said.
On July 13, 13 employees of the station filed a lawsuit against the management at the West Jakarta District Court, demanding Rp 13 billion (US$1.9 million) in compensation for allegedly preventing the establishment of a workers' union.
In May, the station shocked many by replacing the entire board of directors.
Harry, an executive at PT Bimantara Citra, the station's holding company, and Nenny Soemawinata, former general manager of private television station ANteve, were then installed as RCTI's president and director respectively. (jun)