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Reports on Monday say Indonesian security forces fired on striking workers at Freeport McMoRan's Grasberg mine in the country’s poorest province West Papua after a protest turned violent, killing one and injuring a dozen other, including seven police, some of them critically. The local police chief said between 500 – 600 policemen are now billeted at the mine.
About 12,000 workers vowed Friday to paralyse production at the massive gold and copper mine as their strike over pay enters its second month. There is a history of violence at the mine and Freeport, based in Phoenix Arizona, report annual payments reaching an average $5m each year for government-provided security and $12m for unarmed, in-house security at the Grasberg complex dating back to the 1970s.
Freeport released a statement saying striking workers were to blame according to AP: They have blocked roads, intimidated replacement workers and their families, as well as employees at bus terminals and barracks in recent weeks. On Friday Freeport said some workers have returned, putting it in a position to increase mining and milling output.
Reuters reports disgruntled Grasberg workers protested after being barred from collecting belongings from barracks at Gorong Gorong, where buses take workers to the remote mountain mine. The union said one worker died after being shot in the chest and the local police chief Denny Siregar said eight workers were injured, while seven policemen were wounded by miners throwing stones.
The gulf between the the two parties are so wide that chances of a settlement appear remote – Freeport has offered a 25% increase on wages while the union wants the current minimum rate of $1.50 an hour raised more than 8-fold and the maximum hourly rate of $3.50 it wants pegged at $37.
Al-Jazeera has in-depth coverage on Grasberg: Freeport began to disclose security-related payments in filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in 2001. It confirmed annual payments reaching an average $5m each year for government-provided security of the Grasberg complex and its staff and fluctuating annual costs reaching $12m for unarmed, in-house security costs. A spokesman for the company later told the Jakarta Post that these payments had been taking place since the 1970s.
Reuters reports Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) is the largest taxpayer in Indonesia and in the first week of the strike last month when production was slashed by 230,000 tonnes a day, it represented daily losses of $6.7 million in government revenue. Freeport, the world’s largest publicly traded copper miner, is also facing a strike at its Corro Verde mine in Peru. Union leaders last week failed to agree on a wage deal that would settle the strike.
2 Comments
Arnie Lakson
Freeport pays 10 times more than $1.50 to its workers in the other mines. Why is it paying only $1.50 to workers in the West Papua? This makes Freeport very racist. The striking workers have a valid reason and a justifyable one for their strike. The company should stopping pushy footing and pay the strikers what they want. For too long, they have used the Indonesian Military, who have no respect for human rights and dignity, to supress the rights of the workers, and the West Papuans.
Shame, Shame on you Freeport…Greedy Fat Pig.
Cheers.
Arnie
auagminer
Freeport already pays much higher than the prevailing wage for this area and the 25% increase offered is very fair in comparison to other labor markets. This is an obvious grab for the money on the part of the union – pure greed.
If the operation falls into the hands of other entities, i.e. the government or union backed companies, Grasberg’s output will plummet and the new managers will start to sell off assets to keep the money flowing. It has happened so many other times in many other places (Peru & Zimbabwe,for example).
The wave of socialism that is sweeping many parts of the world will result in the destruction of countless jobs and the loss of enormous wealth as the incompetent “leaders” line their own pockets at the expense of the people who really get things done (look at Venezuela). That’s what this is really about, not social justice, as some would have you believe. Freeport carved this mine out of the jungle and has created an amazing amount of wealth for the locals, Indonesia and the owners of the company – that’s what a business is supposed to do. Most of the 12000 employees on strike would not have income remotely approaching their current status if Freeport had not taken the huge risk to develop this deposit.