6 Jul 2011

Freeport production in Papua crippled by strike

3:03 pm on 6 July 2011

Thousands of employees of PT Freeport Indonesia, which is the Papuan unit of the US giant mining corporation, Freeport McMoran, claim that the strike they began on Monday is limiting the company's production by 90 percent.

The Jakarta Post reports that about 8,000 workers of Freeport Indonesia, most of whom work in the production unit, launched the planned one week strike in protest at the recent sacking of six colleagues.

They are also demanding that pay double to three dollars an hour, saying they are paid very poorly compared with their counterparts in other units of Freeport McMoran.

A union leader, Virgo Solossa, says nearly all production activities have ceased, with perhaps just 10 percent still functioning.

The company has admitted that the strike's disrupting production activities, but says other operation are running as normal.