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Fuel distribution secured with backup plan
Embedded: A member of the military is on guard as state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina uses a substitute driver to operate a tanker truck at the Plumpang fueling station in Jakarta on Tuesday during a strike by regular drivers
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span class="inline inline-center">Embedded: A member of the military is on guard as state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina uses a substitute driver to operate a tanker truck at the Plumpang fueling station in Jakarta on Tuesday during a strike by regular drivers. The truck crew members are demanding permanent positions and pay for overtime work during the Idul Fitri holiday.(JP/Dhoni Setiawan)
State-owned oil and gas company Pertamina deployed substitute drivers and security support to minimize the impact caused by a strike involving hundreds of tanker truck drivers on Tuesday and to ensure fuel distribution in the capital.
Two hundred drivers from the company’s other terminals such as Cikampek in West Java acted as backup amid the strike conducted by hundreds of drivers at Pertamina’s terminal in Plumpang, North Jakarta.
“Thank God the fuel supply is secured. We have utilized many sources from other terminals in Greater Jakarta and West Java to distribute the supply so that our operational activity could remain normal,” Pertamina spokeswoman Wianda Puspanegoro told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
The company also readied a special task force backed by the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the police to guarantee security for the fuel distribution.
TNI spokesman Brig. Gen. Wuryanto said the institution would help Pertamina as fuel sup plies were a vital necessity for the public.
Hundreds of tanker drivers from the Plumpang terminal, organized under the Indonesian Port and Transportation Workers Federation (FBTPI), began a one-week strike on Tuesday. They have demanded that Pertamina Patra Niaga (PPN), Pertamina’s subsidiary for fuel distribution, promote them to become permanent employees and grant them additional allowances.
“We urge the company to appoint us as permanent employees because what we have done all this time, distributing fuel supplies, is essential for the company,” said one of the protesters.
The drivers, who work under an outsourcing scheme with PT Sapta Sarana Sejahtera, claimed previously that the strike would affect distribution at more than 800 gas stations in Greater Jakarta as well as Puncak and Sukabumi in West Java.
However, based on the Post’s observations on Tuesday, it was business as usual for several gas stations in South and West Jakarta.
Raden Johan, a supervisor at a Pertamina gas station in Daan Mogot, West Jakarta, said the station had filled its gasoline reservoir with double the normal amount as part of anticipatory measures.
Still, fears of a fuel shortage would remain if the strike continued, he added.
In response to the drivers’ demands, Wianda said Pertamina had asked PPN to provide an acceptable solution for all parties. (vny)
Safrin La Batu contributed to this story.
