Semen Gresik workers hold strike to protest sale plan
Semen Gresik workers hold strike to protest sale plan
The Jakarta Post, Gresik
Thousands of employees of the state-owned cement firm PT Semen
Gresik held a massive strike on Tuesday in a bid to force the
government to abandon plans to sell a controlling 51 percent
stake in the company to Mexico's cement giant Cemex SA de CV.
The strike, which involved almost all employees in both the
production and administration divisions, had resulted in losses
of some Rp 1.85 billion (US$178,000) to the publicly-listed Semen
Gresik, the country's largest cement maker with a combined daily
output of 20,000 tons from two plants in East Java.
"The strike will be held only for one day as a warning to the
government. But if it proceeds with the (sale) plan, we'll
continue the strike," deputy chief of the Semen Gresik labor
union Suaman Pratipto was quoted by Antara as saying.
The government was supposed to complete the sale plan late
last year as part of the country's overall privatization program
aimed at raising cash to help finance the 2001 state budget
deficit.
But protests from various quarters, including politicians and
informal leaders in West Sumatra and South Sulawesi, respectively
the home base of PT Semen Padang and PT Semen Tonasa, two key
units of Semen Gresik, forced the government to delay the sale
plan.
The government now expects the divestment process to take
place in January this year.
The privatization program, however, not only affects
government finances but is also seen as a crucial measure for
reviving the much needed confidence of foreign investors in the
ailing economy. Another delay or the complete termination of the
sale plan would only do further damage to investor confidence.
Tuesday's strike also involved employees of the Semen Gresik
plant in Tuban, East Java.
The workers gathered in the main lobby of Semen Gresik
headquarters in Gresik, East Java, displaying anti-privatization
banners.
Suaman said that if the government sold the 51 percent stake
in the publicly-listed Semen Gresik to the foreign company, the
government would no longer have the power to control the cement
supply on the domestic market and cement prices would soar.
Suaman said that the financial losses both to the company and
the state would be much larger if the cement maker was sold to a
foreign investor.
Meanwhile, a group of around 300 Semen Gresik employees are
planning to stage a demonstration at the office of the State
Minister of State Enterprises and the House of Representatives
building to protest the privatization plan.
Antara said that the employees planned to pitch tents in front
of the office building of the State Minister of State Enterprises
until the government abandoned the sale plan.
"We are fighting to maintain state ownership of Semen Gresik,
not to protect our own interests but for a much bigger interest,
the state and the general public," Suaman said.
Some analysts, however, have said that the opposition to the
privatization of Semen Gresik is being organized mainly by
parties who fear a loss of their historical benefits and
privileges if the company falls into the hands of a foreign
investor like Cemex.
State-owned companies have long been treated as cash-cows by
corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.
With the growing protest over the Semen Gresik privatization
program, there have been concerns that Cemex might back down from
the purchase plan.