Freeport Indonesia workers plan June demonstration

The workers at Freeport McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc’s Grasberg mine in Indonesia are planning to protest this month against the dismissal of 3 employees and security problems.

A union official gave no details about the protest and it was unclear how it would affect operations at the remote mine which holds the world’s largest gold reserves and second largest copper reserves.

Last year, thousands of unionized Freeport workers halted production at Grasberg in the country’s longest ever strike. The company’s profits were hit and copper prices rose as a result of the protest.

Mr Virgo Solossa spokesman for Freeport Indonesia’s union said that “In the near future in June we will hold a demonstration in connection with security issues and the dismissal of 3 employees which we regard as not in accordance with procedure. This action will be firm or we will stop completely.”

Mr Solossa said that three workers were dismissed after being taken to court for being involved in a fight. Workers are also concerned about the security situation because of frequent shootings near the mine in the Papua region.

Source: Reuters

Thousands of US-run mine workers strike in Papua

More than 7,000 workers from US company Freeport McMoRan’s massive gold and copper mine in Indonesia’s western Papua region started a week-long strike on Monday (4/7) to demand better wages.

“We want a bigger salary so that we can afford to have a better life,” Frans Kaweai, a protester, told AFP at the site entrance.

“We started our strike from today because the management refused to agree to our demands,” he added.

Hundreds of police officers have been deployed to secure the mining area.

“Our personnel will provide security to prevent the protest from turning violent,” Mimika police chief Deny Edward Siregar told AFP.

Freeport’s spokesman Ramdani Sirait said the protest had not affected production but urged staff to return to work “while this issue is being resolved to avoid impacts to employees and the company”.

“The company is working diligently with the union and employee leadership to resolve this work stoppage,” he said in an e-mailed statement.

The Freeport mine sits on some of the world’s richest gold reserves and the US company’s local subsidiary is the largest single taxpayer to the Indonesian government.

Papua, a resource-rich region on the western end of New Guinea island, has been the site of a low-level separatist insurgency since its incorporation into Indonesia in the 1960s.

Source: AFP