Workers of KPC coal mining firm lift blockade

JAKARTA (JP): Employees of coal mining firm PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) in Sangata regency, East Kalimantan, ended their strike on Friday after assurances were made that the company would not fire them.

Chairman of the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) Muchtar Pakpahan said on Friday the striking workers, all of whom are grouped under SBSI, agreed to end the blockade after the local government guaranteed in a meeting on Thursday evening that KPC would keep them in employment.

"The governor of East Kalimantan, the local police chief and military commander gave the guarantee in the presence of KPC's management," he said.

Pakpahan noted, however, that the guarantee was not written but oral.

He said during Thursday's meeting that the striking workers said they were ready to accept disciplinary measures by the company, including a decision not to hike salaries during a sanction period, but they were afraid that the company would be quick to fire them for minor mistakes.

"I can guarantee that there'll be no more blockades at KPC. We have resolved all the problems," he said, adding that the employees would resume work by Monday.

The workers' decision to end the blockade, came after the police threaten to forcefully expel them from the mine on Friday.

KPC's Jakarta representative, Bambang Susanto, confirmed the end of the blockade.

"They cleared the blockade on Friday morning between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m., after reaching an internal agreement last night to end the strike," Bambang told The Jakarta Post, failing to mention, however, the guarantee given by the local authorities to the workers.

He said that KPC and the striking employees had yet to sign a formal agreement on the latter's return to work, but he did not specify when the agreement would be signed.

KPC was now checking whether any of the heavy vehicles used during the blockade had been damaged, he said.

He said the striking workers had finally agreed to accept disciplinary measures, which the company insisted on imposing for breaking company working regulations.

The workers started their strike in mid-June, demanding among others things, salary increases. They occupied KPC's production facilities, forcing the company to declare a force majeure on its contracts with buyers.

Both sides reached an agreement in late July but the workers went on strike and occupied the production facilities again in August, protesting the company's plan to impose disciplinary measures. The blockade forced KPC to declare a force majeure once again.

Bambang said he was not sure whether the workers would strike again and reestablish the blockade as they had promised.

"What we have here is the good intention of the workers to end the dispute, but let's see whether this will last," he said.

The company said it lost the opportunity to produce 2.2 million metric tons of coal worth US$58 million during the blockade.

Bambang said KPC would not immediately lift its force majeure status as it was still unsure whether the workers could keep their word.

KPC president Grant Thorne said in a statement the company would build up a modest stock of coal at the port site before deciding to lift the force majeure status.

"We don't want to divert vessels from their new destinations, only to frustrate them again.

"The meeting will simply formalize the earlier agreement so that none of the workers will resume the blockade," he said.

KPC is jointly owned by Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto and British-American oil and gas company Beyond Petroleum (BP). (bkm)