Hehehe ... para perampok lagi beraksi
>________________________________ >From: holy uncle <[email protected]> >To: NATIONAL <[email protected]>; MEDIACARE ><[email protected]>; PROLETAR <[email protected]> >Sent: Friday, November 4, 2011 9:01 PM >Subject: [proletar] Indonesian government orders police to break Papuan mine >strike > > > >Indonesian government orders police to break Papuan mine strike >By Mike Head >3 November 2011 >Acting in close cooperation with the Obama administration in the United >States, the Indonesian government of President Susilo Yudhoyono has declared >its intention to break the two-month strike at the massive Freeport-McMoRan >gold and copper mine in the province of Papua. >Police violence is being prepared to disperse the blockades that have >effectively shut down the mine, underscoring the alarm that the militant >strike by some of the lowest-paid mining workers in the world has caused in >both Jakarta and Washington. >Indonesia’s newly appointed energy and mineral resources minister Jero Wacik >met on Monday with the US ambassador to Indonesia, Scot Marciel, to discuss >the Freeport dispute, which last week forced the Arizona-based company to >declare a force majeure (default) on its copper contracts. >The Yudhoyono government announced that it was sending deputy mineral >resources minister Widjajono Partwidagdo to Papua to get the mine operating >again before dealing with the demands of the 8,000 strikers for higher pay. >Indonesian police set a 48-hour deadline for workers to stop demonstrating or >blocking access to mine facilities. >Deputy minister Widjajono said his first priority would be to restore order. >“Essentially [Freeport-McMoRan wants] security to return to normal,” he told >the Jakarta Globe. Only after the mine was up and running, he added, would the >strikers’ demands be discussed. >According to workers, police armoured cars, heavy loaders and bulldozers have >been sighted on their way to attack the strikers’ blockades. The local police >commander, Deny Edward Siregar has issued an ultimatum, accusing the strikers >of breaching criminal laws. “The strike has shifted its orientation, and >become demonstrations without asking permissions from the police and has >blocked access to roads that are vitally important for the national interest,” >he stated. >Thousands of miners and their supporters began blockading the company’s >operations last month, after para-military police opened fire on protesting >workers in the nearby port of Timika, killing a striker and wounding a dozen >more. The Yudhoyono regime has rejected calls for an independent investigation >into the shootings. >Workers have been further incensed by the revelation that police have been >receiving cash payments from Freeport-McMoRan, underscoring the intimate >relations between the company, the government and the security forces. >National Police Chief General Timur Pradopo last Friday admitted that police >units had been paid “pocket money” by the company. Human rights group Kontras >had leaked a letter from Papua police saying that Freeport paid 1,250,000 >rupiah ($US134) a month each to about 635 police and military personnel, >adding up to $14 million annually. >At a press conference in Jakarta on Tuesday, a company spokesman defended the >payments, declaring that they were legal under the “Voluntary Principles on >Security and Human Rights,” an international agreement initiated by several >large companies and governments, including the US and Britain. >This international protocol further demonstrates the extent to which >governments and their police and military forces operate at the behest of the >world’s largest mining companies, enforcing the exploitation of mine workers. >The Freeport miners are currently paid as little as $1.50 an hour, even though >the mountainous Grasberg open-pit and underground complex is the world’s >largest and most profitable gold and copper mine. Buoyed by soaring commodity >prices, the company’s first half-year profit jumped to almost $3 billion, >nearly double the figure for the first six months of 2010. >Talks between the company and the All-Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) broke >down last week, despite SPSI cutting its minimum wage claim to $7.80 an hour. >This is far below the initial $17.50 claim, which was said to be aimed at >bringing the Papuan miners more into line with the wages paid by Freeport in >its North American operations, which were acquired from Phelps Dodge in 2007. > >Company spokesman, PT Freeport Indonesia chief administrative officer Sinta >Sirait, dismissed the revised demand out of hand as “too high”. He refused to >lift the company’s offer of a 30 percent rise—about seven times less than even >the union’s reduced claim. >Freeport briefly halted production in mid-October in a previous unsuccessful >bid to break the strike. It said on Tuesday that the mine was still only >producing ore at “reduced levels” because workers’ blockades had prevented it >from repairing the allegedly sabotaged 110-kilometre pipeline that channels >gold and copper concentrates to Timika. >Such is the poverty in Papua that an estimated 10,000 itinerant gold panners >work in the river carrying the mine’s waste, or tailings, from the company’s >mill. The army and police have also been involved in that enterprise, with >military trucks carrying panners to points along the river for 1 million >rupiahs ($US112) each, and the police acting as middlemen for gold shops in >Timika. >The Indonesian government itself has a massive stake in the mine, which is its >largest single source of tax revenue. It owns more than 9 percent of PT >Freeport, with the US parent company retaining the remainder. Since 1991, when >the former Suharto military dictatorship renewed Freeport’s licence for up to >50 years, the company has provided nearly $13 billion to the government, >despite paying only 1.5 percent royalties. >The Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto also has a substantial interest in >the mine, in which it was a 12 percent partner between 1995 and 2004. As a >result of its 1995 investment in Grasberg’s underground extension, Rio Tinto >is entitled to 40 percent of the mine’s production from the expansion. >Yudhoyono, who won the Indonesian presidency in 2004, has presented himself as >a political reformer, but his career epitomises the interlocking relations >between the government, the military and the mining companies. A former senior >general under Suharto, he became mines and energy minister under President >Abdurrahman Wahid in 1999. He was later elevated to security coordination >minister by Wahid, a post he resumed under President Megawati Sukarnoputri >following Wahid’s ouster in 2001. >The Freeport strikers have begun to win support from the Occupy movement. >People from the Occupy Phoenix encampment marched to the Freeport-McMoRan >headquarters in the city on Monday. They carried signs such as “Shame on You >Freeport” and “Freeport Wages not Bullets.” > >US President Obama, who is due to visit Indonesia this month, has strengthened >relations with Jakarta as part of Washington’s escalating efforts to combat >Chinese influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Freeport is regarded in >Washington as a strategic US interest. Its CEO Richard Adkerson is a listed >speaker at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO summit, to be held in >Honolulu on November 10-12. >The global dimension of the issues raised by the Freeport confrontation are >highlighted by the fact that workers at the company’s Sociedad Minera Cerro >Verde copper mine in Peru have been on strike since September 29. They are >demanding pay rises of 11 percent, while the company has offered just 3 >percent. >It is the first strike in the 40-year history of the Cerro Verde operation. >However, the union covering the strikers has called on President Ollanta >Humala’s government to intervene to establish a new labour agreement. Humala >previously declared the strike legal but has demanded a negotiated settlement >between the company and the union. > >http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/nov2011/free-n03.shtml > >[Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > [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/
