Trade unionists from around the world including Australia are in Jakarta, to try to resolve the bitter dispute at the Freeport mine in the Indonesian province of Papua.

The dispute flared last month, leaving several people dead after clashes between striking miners and Indonesian security forces.

The Australian Greens party which holds the balance of power in the Senate, has demanded the Australian government suspends aid to Indonesian security forces.

The Greens spokesman on Papua, Senator Richard Di Natalie, also pointed to allegations of abuse and corruption at the American-operated gold and copper mine.

Meanwhile, the international trade unionists who are in Jakarta at the request of the Freeport workers are trying to work out a compromise between the strikers and the mine operators.

Presenter: Michael Cavanagh

Speaker: Wayne McAndrew, general vice-president of Australia's Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union

McAndrew: Oh just to act I suppose as a bit of a broker, we met with the Freeport company as well and we've impressed upon both the company and the workforce that both need to return to the bargaining table and try and resolve these issues and move forward, so that's effectively what the union have wanted us to do. They've asked for our support, advice, assistance and we're trying to do that.

Cavanagh: What did you tell the mine operators?

McAndrew: We told them that they've got to get back to the bargaining table, but we understand that both side as a result of the bitterness of this current dispute, both sides have indicated they won't return to the bargaining table. We're trying to encourage both sides to return to that bargaining table and those meetings are ongoing.

Cavanagh: This is more than your normal industrial dispute, there's human rights abuses, people have died in clashes. What can you do to try and bring them together and what needs to be done, particularly to stop the violence?

McAndrew: Our role has been simply to try and resolve the industrial dispute. We've been told by the union both in the Jakarta level and at the mine level that this is a industrial dispute, an industrial strike and it has nothing to do with any of the other political issues that abound in West Papua at this moment. We are aware that there has been the death certainly of two strikers as a result of as I understand it of a dispute near the mine, which resulted in police opening fire on some strikers. We're aware of other deaths, but as far as we're concerned and what we've been told they're unrelated to the current dispute.

Cavanagh: Would you be advocating further action involving possibly unions, not just from Freeport and also from Jakarta itself, but maybe Australian involvement or some sort of boycott?

McAndrew: Not at this stage. We're still of the view that it's a local mine dispute and we don't see the need to, nor would we wish to, nor have we been requested to by the union and or the members to take it any further than that at this stage.

Cavanagh: Given what's gone on, what was the atmospherics when you met with both the union members from Freeport itself and also the mine operators? There must be an element of incredibly distrust and also fear?

McAndrew: There is, and I probably would best describe both meetings as tense. There's no doubt that on both sides there's concerns and a tenseness is probably the best way to describe it.

Cavanagh: So how do you handle it, Your obviously, it's very tense, you want to get compromise and yet there seems to be lack of movement on both sides. What can you really do? Are you going to thump the table, do you talk, what can you do from outside?

McAndrew: No, we certainly won't be thumping the table. We're continuing to talk to the union and as I said (inaudible) is try and mediate for want of a better word I suppose to try and get to the bottom of where some of the issues are and try and get the parties back together negotiating an outcome.

Cavanagh: What are the chances of the Jakarta-based union members and other unions that are affiliated getting involved and taking industrial action as well?

McAndrew: They haven't indicated that at this stage and we certainly haven't spoken about that as I sent out the request (inaudible) was from the unions here and from Freeport to try and the unions at Freeport to come over and try and assist in the process.

Cavanagh: In discussions with the mine operators, did you at all raise the possibility of union action against some of its other operations, not in Indonesia but elsewhere in the world?

McAndrew: No, we did not. They gave us a long presentation in relation to the affect of this current strike on their operation and some of the other ancillary issues that were occurring there. That made us respond along the lines, well, it's important for them to try and have this issue resolved as well. They raised the issue of losing millions of dollars as a result of the strike. So that reaffirmed to us that it's in their best interest to try and resolve this issue as quickly as possible with the workforce and the unions.

Cavanagh: What was their reaction when you obviously talked about the violence that had occurred, did they understand your concerns?

McAndrew: They indicated to us that aside from the strike, that there's been ongoing issues in and around their mining area. They raised with us that they'd been deaths and injuries to employees that had nothing whatsoever to do with this current strike and current action and as I understand there have been issues there going on for sometime. But as I've explained, we have tried to stay away from that, we're specifically here to try and assist the parties and more specifically assist the union at all levels here to try and resolve this bitter dispute and we did make it quite plain to the company that we would certainly not want to see any more injuries or violence of any kind.

Cavanagh: How can you stop that?

McAndrew: Just got to keep talking I suppose. I make the point as well that the Indonesian government has a role to play in relation to some of this, but that's better off being asked of the government not of the union.