JAYAPURA. Activities at PT Freeport’s mining sites in Timika, Papua, were paralyzed on Thursday as thousands of workers went on strike to demand a salary rise.Many workers took to the streets after talks with their employer reached an impasse.“All workers are on strike and are now gathering at the entrance gate to Kuala Kencana in Timika,” Juli Parorrongan, the spokesperson for the workers, told The Jakarta Post by phone in Timika, Mimika regency, on Thursday.Juli said that the strike had started at midnight local time on Thursday. At 6:30 in the morning, all of the workers were transported in buses from Tembagapura to Kuala Kencana.“We used 37 buses. No worker walked [to get to Kuala Kencana],” he said.Since Thursday, he said, 8,000 workers had joined the strike, and that number was expected to increase to 11,000.While some workers gathered at the entrance gate to Kuala Kencana, others pledged their support from home, he said.The strike, according to Juli, followed a poll conducted by the workers’ union in which nearly 90 percent of the workers agreed to go on strike.“We will continue the strike until the management responds positively to our demand [for increase in salary],” he said.Separately, Papua acting Governor Syamsul Arief Rivai said that the strike was an internal matter within PT Freeport and that therefore both sides had expected to continue the negotiations until an agreement was reached.“I do hope the dispute can be handled internally especially because a halt of the company’s operations will affect other aspects,” Syamsul said.The provincial administration, he said, through the manpower agency, would continue to mediate the negotiations between both sides.He also said a drop in Freeport’s productivity due to the strike would badly affect the province’s and the nation’s revenues, which in turn would affect the government’s ability to develop the region.“I say it’s better to file the demand and not go on strike. Difference of opinion is common but it must be solved in a prudent way,” he said.PT Freeport spokesperson Ramdani Sirait said that the management was disappointed with the union’s decision to strike.Since it began salary negotiations with its workers on July 20, he said, the management had negotiated with goodwill to reach a fair deal for the 2011-2013 joint work agreement (PKB).“We have expressed our will to continue and finish the negotiation on time,” Ramdani wrote in a written statement.Separately, Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Bigman Lumban Tobing said that despite the strike, security in the region remained under control.He said he had sent additional personnel to back up the ones already based in the region.“The situation is under control,” he said. (Nethy Dharma Somba/The Jakarta Post)
Worker strike paralyzes mining activities at Freeport
JAYAPURA. Activities at PT Freeport’s mining sites in Timika, Papua, were paralyzed on Thursday as thousands of workers went on strike to demand a salary rise.Many workers took to the streets after talks with their employer reached an impasse.“All workers are on strike and are now gathering at the entrance gate to Kuala Kencana in Timika,” Juli Parorrongan, the spokesperson for the workers, told The Jakarta Post by phone in Timika, Mimika regency, on Thursday.Juli said that the strike had started at midnight local time on Thursday. At 6:30 in the morning, all of the workers were transported in buses from Tembagapura to Kuala Kencana.“We used 37 buses. No worker walked [to get to Kuala Kencana],” he said.Since Thursday, he said, 8,000 workers had joined the strike, and that number was expected to increase to 11,000.While some workers gathered at the entrance gate to Kuala Kencana, others pledged their support from home, he said.The strike, according to Juli, followed a poll conducted by the workers’ union in which nearly 90 percent of the workers agreed to go on strike.“We will continue the strike until the management responds positively to our demand [for increase in salary],” he said.Separately, Papua acting Governor Syamsul Arief Rivai said that the strike was an internal matter within PT Freeport and that therefore both sides had expected to continue the negotiations until an agreement was reached.“I do hope the dispute can be handled internally especially because a halt of the company’s operations will affect other aspects,” Syamsul said.The provincial administration, he said, through the manpower agency, would continue to mediate the negotiations between both sides.He also said a drop in Freeport’s productivity due to the strike would badly affect the province’s and the nation’s revenues, which in turn would affect the government’s ability to develop the region.“I say it’s better to file the demand and not go on strike. Difference of opinion is common but it must be solved in a prudent way,” he said.PT Freeport spokesperson Ramdani Sirait said that the management was disappointed with the union’s decision to strike.Since it began salary negotiations with its workers on July 20, he said, the management had negotiated with goodwill to reach a fair deal for the 2011-2013 joint work agreement (PKB).“We have expressed our will to continue and finish the negotiation on time,” Ramdani wrote in a written statement.Separately, Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Bigman Lumban Tobing said that despite the strike, security in the region remained under control.He said he had sent additional personnel to back up the ones already based in the region.“The situation is under control,” he said. (Nethy Dharma Somba/The Jakarta Post)