TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Garuda Indonesia Employees Union (Sekarga) and Garuda Indonesia Pilot Association (APG) have said they would not hold their planned strike during Eid’s homecoming season. “Both APG and Sekarga are highly committed to maintaining professionalism in catering to consumers' needs, especially in this peak season,” said APG president Capt. Bintang Handono in a written statement today.
However, he would await the response from the government and the company's shareholders regarding their demands within 30 work days beginning May 2, 2018.
Bintang explained APG and Sekarga had met with the Coordinating Minister for Fisheries Affairs, Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, to voice several problems that they thought resulted in the company's declining performance since mid-2017.
Read: Minister Calls for Talks to Stem Garuda Indonesia Woes
“In the meeting, Pak Luhut said he would help find the best solutions to several issues in Garuda,” Bintang said.
APG and Sekarga, he added, were appreciative of the meeting and expected it would generate solutions. Bintang said there were prior discussions with Garuda's management, but to no avail.
Thus, at the end of 2017, both associations sent a letter to President Joko Widodo and SOEs Minister Rini Soemarno highlighting the dispute.
“We also stated that all Garuda Indonesia employees love the company, so we won’t act if there is no serious problem that is detrimental to Garuda,” Bintang said.
JONIANSYAH
