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Batam strikes paralyze industry
Approximately 1,000 foreign investment companies across 26 industrial estates in Batam shut down almost all their operations on Thursday as workers joined the nationwide strike
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pproximately 1,000 foreign investment companies across 26 industrial estates in Batam shut down almost all their operations on Thursday as workers joined the nationwide strike.
Several industrial estates dispatched members of a mass youth organization in front of their entrance gates to drive away protesters and prevent them ffrom orcing other workers to join the strike action.
A number of people affiliated with the Pemuda Pancasila (PP) youth organization guarded the main entrance of the Tunas Industrial Estate and closed road access into the industrial complex. Meanwhile, hundreds of workers wearing black jackets belonging to the Indonesian Metal Workers Federation (FSPMI) shouted workers' rights slogans in front of the compound.
Similar scenes were witnessed at virtually all the industrial estates, which are home to around 1,000 foreign companies investing in Batam.
At Executive Park industrial complex, dozens of workers tried to demolish the entry gate, causing it to become dislodged from the wall.
Yudi Karya, a worker at the Siemens fabrication yard in Batam, said he and his colleagues were given an official day's holiday on Thursday in exchange for not joining the strike, which would affect the company's operations.
'We are afraid to go to work. We are worried that we will become targets in our work uniforms. Something could also happen if we refuse to join the national strike, so we were given a vacation,' he said.
An attempt by some protesters to blockade Batam's Hang Nadim International Airport and several ports failed as hundreds of Barelang Police personnel stood guard around the airport. (ebf)
