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