Manpower Ministry to Handle Freeport's Layoff: Minister Luhut
24 February 2017 17:50 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said that the government has ordered the Manpower Ministry to deal with Freeport's massive layoff plan.
"[The issue] will be handled by Minister Hanif Dhakiri. He will go to Papua in a day or two," Luhut said after attending a meeting at the Finance Ministry in Jakarta on Friday, February 24, 2017.
Based on a report submitted Freeport's management to the Manpower, Transmigration, and Public Housing Agency in Mimika, Papua, the company had laid off 1,087 of its employees by Thursday, February 23, 2017.
On Friday last week, Freeport’s employees launched a protest at Mimika regent's office urging the Indonesian government to allow Freeport to export concentrates.
Currently, the government is in the process of negotiation with Freeport Indonesia in relation to the shift of contract of work (CoW) to a special mining license (IUPK).
Freeport McMoRan CEO Richard Adkerson gave 120 days, starting from the last meeting between both sides on Monday, February 13, 2017, to the government to resolve the differences. Otherwise, Freeport will go through an arbitration process to settle the dispute.
Adkerson alleged that the government violated provisions set forth in the CoW signed in 1991 and Law No. 4/2009 on mineral and coal. Freeport also rejected the special mining license and urged a guarantee for its underground mining investment worth US$15 billion until 2041. The company also rejected an obligation to divest 51 percent of its shares.
GHOIDA RAHMAH
