1,500 Personnel to be Deployed as Transjakarta Staff Go on Strike

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Transportation Office head Andri Yansyah said that he has prepared 1,500 personnel to be deployed in bus shelters as city-owned Transjakarta employee continue to go on strike.

Andri said that the Transportation Office will replace Transjakarta bus attendants with its personnel to maintain normal operations. Andri said that Monday’s strike was dominated by attendants on board. “Those who protested and went on strike were attendants on board, the drivers did not [join them],” he said.

Read also: TransJakarta Employees Go on Strike, Passengers Furious

According to Andri, his agency will anticipate threats against drivers from attendants on board to join the demonstration. He will ask Transjakarta management to fire those who do so. On the employees’ demand for permanent employment status, Andri said he had discussed the issue with the commissioners and directors.

He explained that Manpower Law holds that employees who have worked for five consecutive years with temporary status will be may be rewarded permanent employment status in the sixth year. “But it [started] from January 2015, after Transjakarta was formed [as a legal entity],” Andri said.

Read also: Transjakarta to Procure 2,000 Buses by Year End

Andri said that the regulation applies to all employees working since the establishment of Transjakarta in 2004 when was only a technical implementation unit. He noted that the years of service of those who have worked over a dozen years will be back to zero after Transjakarta is turned into a limited liability company. “I have said it before, ‘Sir, what about me who have 13 years of service?’. You have been paid for 13 years, it’s not that you were not paid for 13 years,” Andri said.

FRISKI RIANA