REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Manpower Minister Hanif Dhakiri asked the management of PT Freeport Indonesia to have dialogue with its workers union on matters related to employment problems. "We asked PT Freeport to open dialogues with the workers union," Dhakiri said, during a function on the launch of a gap report by Oxfam and INFID, in Jakarta on Thursday.

The minister remarked that he had received a report on the workers' condition in Freeport. " I have to verify the report. I will also meet the workers association of the company to discuss issues there," he added.

Dhakiri stated that the policy taken by the government with regard to PT Freeport is basically to restore the business process in Indonesia based on regulations in force.

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In this case, the Manpower Ministry fully supports the government's policy. "If a problem is emerging, it should be discussed. It should not happen that a company uses workers as a means of exerting pressure on the government. It should better be discussed well, because the goal is in the interest of everyone, including the people," he asserted.

He said that layoffs could not be carried out arbitrarily but should be discussed with the workers' association and should be based on regulations. Based on a report, out of the 32 thousands workers at PT Freeport at present, about 12 thousand are contract workers. According to the report of Manpower, Transmigration and Public Housing Service (Disnakertrans-PR) of Papua province, PT Freeport has streamlined its workforce by 1,087 workers. "We have received data on the reduction of workers by PT Freeport, which reached 1,087 personnel," Septinus Somilena, Disnakertrans-PR head for Mimika, noted.

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