Workers at 13 airport plan massive strike on Jan. 21
Workers at 13 airport plan massive strike on Jan. 21
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Airport workers in 13 cities are threatening to strike over the
upcoming long weekend in protest against the government's attempt
to take over the management of their old-age pension fund.
State airport operator PT Angkasa Pura I labor union
chairwoman Ice Yulinar told The Jakarta Post on Thursday that the
workers had agreed to stage a massive protest from Jan. 18 to
Jan. 20 before going on strike on Jan. 21. They will abort the
plan to strike if the government drops its intention to take over
the fund's management as workers fear abuses.
"We had originally planned to strike on Tuesday, but we
canceled due to the natural disaster in Aceh. We only want the
government to stop its intervention," she said.
On Jan. 21, all air traffic controllers at the 13 airports
will notify all airplanes that they will not be able land or take
off from the airports.
Should that happen, airline companies may suffer billions of
rupiah in losses as there will be no flights to the 13
destinations -- which include resort island Bali and tourist
destinations Yogyakarta and Mataram on Lombok island -- while
Indonesians celebrate Idul Adha (Islamic Day of Sacrifice)
holiday on Jan. 21.
Angkasa Pura workers have protested since the middle of last
year when the company's new management and a number of officials
from the Office of the State Minister of State Enterprises
planned to transfer the workers' old-age pension fund -- payments
for which are deducted from employees' monthly salaries -- from
the worker's foundation to a private insurance firm.
The workers are concerned that the management and officials
may embezzle the funds during the transfer due to the alluring
amount of Rp 100 billion (US$11.1 million).
They also argued that the insurance firm had asked for a high
fee to manage the funds, reaching 30 percent of the total funds
managed, thus reducing the amount of proceeds to be received by
the workers.
Ice said the workers had discussed the problem with Ferdinand
Nainggolan, deputy state minister of state enterprises for
logistics and tourism, and his assistant Bonar Manurung, but to
no avail.
Both officials insisted that the workers accept the plan.
Neither Ferdinand nor Bonar could be reached for comment.
"There is no problem with the workers. It is the government
officials and the management who have exacerbated the case. We
are right to be suspicious of their plan since they keep trying
to force the workers to accept it," said Ice.
She was hopeful that State Minister of State Enterprises
Sugiharto would be willing to help settle the problem.
Airports overseen by PT Angkasa Pura I:
- Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali
- Juanda International Airport in Surabaya
- Hasanuddin International Airport in Makassar, South Sulawesi
- Sepinggan International Airport in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan
- Frans Kaisiepo International Airport in Biak, Papua
- Sam Ratulangi International Airport in Manado, North Sulawesi
- Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta
- Adisumarmo Airport in Surakarta, Central Java
- Samsudin Noor Airport in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan
- Achmad Yani Airport in Semarang
- Selaparang Airport in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara
- Pattimura Airport in Ambon, Maluku
- Eltari Airport in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara
Source: PT Angkasa Pura I