10 October, 2011
On 6 October, leaders of Indonesian FSP-KEP (SPSI), the Trade Union of Chemical, Energy, and Mine Workers (CEMWU), officially extended a 30-day strike at the world’s largest gold and third largest copper mine one more month – until 15 November – because of mine management’s absence at a provincial forum to address issues in the dispute.
Community leaders also formed a committee and visited different locations of the vast mining complex in order to assess the number of outside workers recruited to break the strike. The committee visits were fired upon, with reports today that one protestor was shot dead.
The Grasberg mine in Papua Province, New Guinea Island, is 91% owned by US-based Freeport-McMoRan. The PT Freeport Indonesia Workers’ Union of CEMWU is in dispute with its subsidiary, PT Freeport Indonesia, over unwillingness to meet the salary demands of 10,000 miners.
A two-year labour agreement expired on 1 October. The company is offering only an 11% increase in each year of a new two-year agreement, below that recommended by Indonesian government mediation last month.
Last week, government officials of West Papua Province, leaders of the province’s Parliament, the Papua Peoples’ Council of seven indigenous groups, a human rights committee, and the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers’ Union of CEMWU waited patiently for mine managers to show up to address issues. None did.
This came a week after the ICEM intervened with Freeport-McMoRan’s chairman asking him to personally step in to resolve the dispute, which threatens global copper and gold supplies. The ICEM received a response from a senior vice president of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold stating the executive had full confidence in managers of PT Freeport Indonesia.
The response stated, “The union maintains its unrealistic demands for compensation, which are grossly inconsistent with Indonesian wage levels and, substantially in excess of the wages of mining workers in other countries performing similar duties.”
Freeport-McMoRan posted a net profit of US$1.37 billion in the second quarter of 2011 and the person ICEM and the CEMWU is trying engage to resolve the dispute, James Moffet, took in a total compensation package in 2010 of US$21.5 million.
The community forum meeting in West Papua took a decision to write PT Freeport Indonesia managers to halt the threats and intimidation of workers in attempting to get them to quit the strike. They also sent a statement to the US embassy in Jakarta encouraging a diplomatic initiative to get Moffet to resolve the bitter strike.
PT Freeport Indonesia managers have broken global labour norms by pressuring strikers to sign statements that they will quit the strike. And they have also removed the job duties of 138 shop stewards, as well as isolating union leaders from workers by posting security guards around them.
The ICEM will continue to support the PT Freeport Indonesia Workers’ Union of CEMWU in the union’s fight for justice, dignity, and a fair 2011-2012 wage package.