Strike ends, KPC expects full production next week
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After going on strike for several weeks, about 2,300 workers of East Kalimantan-based PT Kaltim Prima Coal returned to work on Sunday morning.
KPC's management expects the coal mining firm to be in full production some time next week.
"We hope in less than a week the company will come to full production and begin to supply our customers again," KPC's spokeswoman Nunik Maharani Maulana told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Chaerullah, a spokesperson for the striking workers, confirmed Nunik's statement, noting that the workers had agreed to resume work despite the fact that the workers and the management still disagreed on several issues.
"We complied with the Kutai Timur regent's appeal, as the mediator, to get back to work while negotiating the unsettled issues," he told the Post on Monday.
Chaerullah and Nunik said separately that the remaining differences between the workers and the management concerned the formula to be used to distribute the goodwill payment and the question if the goodwill payment was subject to income tax.
Nunik said that there would be no sanctions imposed on the strikers, but it was agreed they would not receive wages while they were on strike or their third quarter bonus.
Chaerullah said he expected the discussion on the two matters would start Tuesday.
The workers went on strike following a move by KPC's shareholders -- Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto and Anglo-American energy company BP Plc -- to sell their entire stake in the coal firm to PT Bumi Resources for US$500 million.
Arguing they had made a large contribution to the development of the company, the workers insisted that the shareholders should have consulted them prior to the sale and give them a cash bonus from the sale.
The strike had been painful for KPC as it caused an estimated daily loss of $500,000 and prompted the company to declare force majeure on its obligation to buyers.
After long and thorny discussions, KPC's shareholders agreed to pay a so-called "goodwill payment" worth Rp 50 billion or about $6 million to all KPC workers.
Last Tuesday, the workers and the management, mediated by the Kutai Timur regency administration, came to several agreements. As a result, the workers started to work the following day, only to strike again after three hours of work, upon learning the management would impose sanctions on some of them and that the goodwill payment would be deducted to pay income tax.
The strike has angered many parties, including Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea, who insisted the strike was illegal.
The business community said the strike would set a bad precedent that would worsen the investment climate and scare away foreign investors.