http://www.smh.com.au/world/police-paid-pocket-money-by-giant-west-papua-mine-20111031-1ms4n.html Police paid 'pocket money' by giant West Papua mine Tom Allard, Jakarta November 1, 2011 Workers continue their strike at the Freeport gold and copper mine. Photo: Reuters
INDONESIAN police have admitted they are on the payroll of the giant Freeport gold and copper mine, the world's most profitable, as they prepare to break a long-running strike as early as today. For more than a month, workers at the mine have conducted industrial action, claiming they are the lowest paid workers in the global operations of Freeport McMoran, the US company that owns the concession in the highlands of the restive province of West Papua. Production at the mine has been crippled, infrastructure sabotaged and seven people have been killed amid clashes between workers and police and mysterious hit-and-run attacks. Advertisement: Story continues below Accusing the workers of ''anarchy'' and threatening a national asset, local police chief Deny Edward Siregar warned the police would take ''stern action'' if the site of the picket line wasn't moved by today. Union officials responded by saying they were going nowhere, setting the scene for possibly more violence. Police spokesman Wachyono defined the foreshadowed ''stern action'' as ''opening further negotiations with union management''. However, five striking workers have already been shot dead by police, raising accusations of a heavy-handed and hostile attitude of security personnel towards workers exercising their legal rights to industrial action. On Friday, Indonesia's national police chief Timur Pradopo conceded that hundreds of police who secured the massive concession and its infrastructure, including three 100-kilometre pipelines to the port of Amamapare, were paid ''pocket money'' by Freeport. He declined to say how much but human rights group Kontras obtained and released a letter from West Papua police saying Freeport pays 1,250,000 rupiah (about $A130) a month for about 635 police and military. ''How can they enforce the law [impartially] if they receive bribes?'' said Samsul Alam Agus, Kontras deputy co-ordinator. Freeport has offered striking workers a pay increase of 30 per cent but unions have rejected the upgrade, saying it is still vastly below comparable salaries for other Freeport McMoran employees. ''We want $US7.50 per hour,'' said Virgo Solossa, a union official. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/police-paid-pocket-money-by-giant-west-papua-mine-20111031-1ms4n.html#ixzz1cSt0gEVt [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
