TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Metal Workers Union of the Indonesian Metal Workers Union Federation (FSPMI) at PT Smelting in Gresik is currently on their 47th day of work strike. The strike was first started on January 19, 2017, at the one and only reifnery owned by PT Freeport Indonesia.
Zainal Arifin, Head of the Indonesian Metal Workers Union stated that around 390 workers went on strike because of wage disparity. Zainal said that the company only provide a 5 percent raise to workers salary, while managerial employees received a 170 percent raise.
Zainal said that the company submitted a collective labor agreement draft that contains provisions harmful to the workers' welfare.
"This, of course, sparked our disappointment towards the management of PT Smelting, which is led by Mr. Tetsuro Sakai and Mr. Hideki Hirokawa," Zainal said in a press conference on Tuesday, March 7, 2017.
Zainal claimed that the workers union has provided an immense contribution to the company. Since PT Smelting was established back in 1996, the company was able to process 90 tons of PT Freeport's copper concentrate every hour, and produce 200 thousand tons of copper annually.
Zainal said that the workers and their families had received intimidations from the company. The company, according to Zainal, issued letters threatening to lay off the employees, and threatened to block the workers' access to health insurance.
DESTRIANITA