Workers of KPC coal mining firm lift blockade

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)