TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - At least 14 Freeport Indonesia workers went to the Manpower Ministry's office on December 27.
They submitted a letter rejecting the memorandum of understanding between the union and Freeport regarding the termination of employment.
The employees' lawyer Harris Azhar said the employees believe that Freeport was being deceitful by putting pro-company workers into unions before making the deal.
The truth is, according to Harris, Freeport's union leader position is empty because the commissioner had been fired.
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"People who are friendly with the company were the ones who made the deal. They suddenly sat down with Freeport," he said yesterday.
In February, Freeport laid off hundreds of employees while in negotiations with the government over the miner's contract. Thousands of employees held strikes in May, resulting in them getting sacked as well.
Freeport Indonesia spokesman Riza Pratama said the company tried to ask the protesters to go back to work, but they refused, and thus "we considered them to have voluntarily resigned," he said, referring to the contract between the miner and its workers.
Riza said Freeport will still help employees financially, based on the length of their service for the company. In addition, employees are allowed to return to work at Freeport Indonesia, provided they enter through contractors and go through selection stages.
INDRI MAULIDAR | MAYA AYU | DANANG FIRMANTO
