Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Truck drivers went back to work at four major seaports in the country on Tuesday after a massive wildcat strike a day earlier.
The day-long strike by the drivers at major ports in Jakarta, North Sumatra, East and Central Java ended Monday evening after officials from the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) reached an agreement with the government, Organda chairman Murphy Hutagalung said.
Hurt by high petrol prices, the strikers had demanded a value-added tax levied on land transportation in 2003 be revoked. They said the tax breached an earlier law exempting them from VAT.
Transportation operators also demanded an end to other illegal levies imposed on them by unscrupulous port officials.
Authorities said the delay to shipments cost the nation around US$80 million.
Thousands of trucks and trailers carrying containers and other cargo were seen busily working at the ports on Tuesday. At Tanjung Priok Port, the one-day delay caused long queues of trucks carrying containers on several roads leading to the port.
"We feel glad, not only because VAT will be phased out but also because drivers will pay no more illegal levies on the way to and from the port," Lumumba Panjaitan, an owner of three trailers operating at Tanjung Priok, said.
Murphy said owners and drivers of trailers were confident the government would fulfill its pledge to revise Ministerial Decree No. 527/2003 which imposed VAT on trailers and trucks transporting containers to the ports.
"Otherwise, we will go strike again," Murphy told The Jakarta Post. He said the strike was an act of last resort after the government ignored repeated calls by Organda to revise the decree during the past three years.
Drivers and trailer owners agreed to resume operations following a meeting between Organda, Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa and director general of tax affairs Hadi Poernomo. That dialog was preceded by a limited Cabinet meeting, which decided to meet the drivers and owners' demands.
Separately, Minister Hatta Radjasa called on owners and drivers to avoid going on strike in the future because the action cost the nation dearly.
"The day-long strike caused financial losses to the government, most industries exporting their products and those importing a part of their raw materials, and it could affect the country's international credibility," Hatta said.
Hatta, however, blamed tax officers for misinterpreting regulations and levying VAT on trucks transporting goods at ports, which he said should never have been subject to the tax.
Toto Dirgantoro, the secretary general of the Indonesian Board for Transportation Service Users, said the high losses from the strike were caused by the delay of between 2,000 and 4,500 containers to destinations overseas. Thousands of stevedores on the ports earned nothing that day, Toto said.
R. Novian G. Ismy, the secretary general of the Textile Industry Association, said his organization had no figures on financial losses caused by the strike in the textile and garment sector.