TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - As many as 400 Garuda Indonesia employees have accepted the company’s offer to take early retirement. This policy, said the state-owned air carrier, is one of its attempts to reduce operating expenses amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

“[Our employees] voluntarily accepted the early retirement program,” said Garuda Indonesia president director Irfan Setiaputra in a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR) state-owned enterprises commission on Tuesday, July 14.

Based on the laws, employees that are offered the option to retire early are those who are aged 45 and above. Irfan assured that the company will fulfill the rights of its employees, such as severance pay.

In addition, Garuda also implements other strategies in order to survive the COVID-19 pandemic such as payroll deductions up to imposing unpaid leaves for 800 employees categorized under the Specific Time Work Agreement contract.

Other air carriers imposing efficiencies the same length as Garuda Indonesia is Lion Air Group, which has terminated its international and domestic contract workers to survive the pandemic. The company has also cut the wages of its entire employees from management-level to lower-tier permanent workers for the past four months.

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FRANCISCA CHRISTY