Welcome Guest   |  Login   |   Signup
JG Logo
Thu, May 24, 2012
Archive Search

Freeport Indonesia Workers Plan Mine Strike Soon: Union
Olivia Rondonuwu | August 26, 2011

The union representing workers at Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold’s giant Indonesian mine is demanding a 20-fold pay rise and could strike again if its demands are not met, a union leader said on Wednesday. (AFP Photo) The union representing workers at Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold’s giant Indonesian mine is demanding a 20-fold pay rise and could strike again if its demands are not met, a union leader said on Wednesday. (AFP Photo)
Share This Page
0
13
0
1
Share with google+ :


Post a comment
Please login to post comment

Comments

jimmymcgila
9:04pm Aug 28, 2011

Hi Jglobe.

RE:

Many workers in Indonesia considering Strike Action.

My Opinion.

I worked in an Iron Ore open cut mine in North West Australia in 1975-76. We were very well paid but everyone was in the Union. Strike action was considered but put to the vote One example: The Shop Steward had worked there for 10 years and was Very wealthy. Us new guys wanted to save $$$s. The Stike was voted down. We found out later that he had a fishing trip planned and thats why the Strike was proposed. True story.

I think after 10 years of democracy Indonesians are learnig the Beauty of Democracy. But should talk and have a vote amoungst the workers first. Previously Unions in Australia were riddled with corruption and criminality Not Now.

I also think that Foreign companies operating in Indonesia should pay their workers a fair living wage or get out. Mayby a Work conditions Ombudsman(as we have in Australia) would be useful in sorting work related problems. I know ordinary people in Indonesia get payed very low wages. But a General Strike would be very bad for the Country. Sensible Honest Negotiatian over the table is the answer and a deal can be worked out. I think Patience is the Key word and Indonesia will have a great future Imshallah.


  • Previous
  • 1
  • Next

Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold's Indonesian workers plan to stage another strike at its huge Grasberg mine in coming days after a deadlock in talks with the company's management, a union official told Reuters on Friday.

The union's deadline for a pay deal was Friday, though a Freeport spokesman said the firm still expects to extend the talks to avoid a second strike at the mine within two months.

"The talks are deadlocked. The gap between what we wanted and what the company offered was enormous. They think a bonus is considered a rise, for us a pay rise is a pay rise," union official Virgo Solossa told Reuters.

Around 8,000 workers in July held an eight-day strike at Grasberg, which has the world's biggest reserves of gold and biggest recoverable reserves of copper, causing a production loss of 60,000 ounces of gold and 35 million pounds of copper.

The July strike at the Grasberg mine and other worker-related disruptions at mines in Chile boosted copper prices to a three-month high.

The workers returned to the remote mountain mine in Papua after the U.S. firm agreed to bring forward pay talks that had been scheduled for later this year and to not penalise union leaders. But the key issue of pay level was left unresolved.

Freeport has offered workers a 10 percent pay rise in the coming year and another 10 percent for the following year, according to a company source, who declined to be indentified because the talks were not public.

"The management has offered a better pay rise than other mining firms in the country," said the source. "The union had demanded a rise using the labor market standard in North America instead of the labor market in Indonesia."

Indonesia's economy, the biggest in Southeast Asia, is powering along at over six percent growth this year, driven by resource exports and buoyant consumer demand, though the Papua region is among the poorest in the sprawling archipelago.

Foreign direct investment in Indonesia has taken off this year because of the strong growth and political stability, with relatively low labor costs seen as an advantage.

Reuters