19 Sep 2011

Freeport rules out pay for strikers in Papua

9:06 am on 19 September 2011

The head of the Freeport mine Armando Mahler says the company has decided not to pay the salaries of the 8,000 workers who have been on strike at its mine in Indonesia's Papua region since Thursday.

He has told the Antara news agency in Jayapura that the company had paid the salaries of workers who also went on strike in July because the payment was part of the requirements demanded by the workers' union before returning to work.

Some workers have launched a month-long strike, saying they want the hourly minimum wage raised from two US dollars and 10 cents to more than 17 US dollars.

This would bring it in line with what Freeport pays elsewhere.

The Jakarta Globe reports that about 1,200 workers have returned to their job.

The Indonesian government says it is losing almost seven million US dollars in revenue a day because of the disruption at Freeport.