Pekanbaru – No work! No pay! Thats the message from embattled oil company PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia (CPI) to its striking contract workers in Riau province, central-eastern Sumatra. CPI yesterday warned some 3,000 striking contract workers they will not be paid and there will be no negotiations until they go back to work.

CPI, along with our business partners, is extremely disappointed in the workers decision to leave productive discussions and to begin striking.

In the last month, we have in good faith worked with the Riau government, local legislative assembly and manpower department to resolve these worker compensation issues, CPI Managing Director J. Gary Fitzgerald said in a statement yesterday. The striking workers yesterday discontinued negotiations over their demands for higher pay and benefits. The strike commenced on Monday at Jengkol, near the township of Duri, around 120 kilometers from the capital of Riau, Pekanbaru.

Caltex described the strike by 3,000 of its 26,000 employees as illegal. The strikers had worked with several Caltex contractors, including Schlumberger, Dowell and Tripatra.

Fitzgeralds statement emphasized that CPI cares about the welfare of workers and respects their right for better compensation. But any demands must be conducted through the existing fair and transparent negotiation process, he noted. The striking workers have been asked to discontinue their disruptive and illegal strike and to have their representatives return to reasonable negotiations.

Local workers are angry that foreign employees are paid much higher salaries. Although current local salaries are described by CPI as competitive, the workers have demanded a 360% increase in overall pay and other benefits.

CPI claims this is unfair, unreasonable and simply not realistic in todays fragile economy. Any business attempting to absorb such a significant cost increases would be injured competitively and forced to lower other operating costs in order to survive. Such measure would also backfire on workers, since job layoffs become the most likely remedy for reducing costs, argued Fitzgerald.

The strike is disrupting the production of oil, which decreases the largest source of government revenue for Indonesia. This harms the people of Indonesia, including the very workers and their families, which participate in this illegal activity, said the statement.

We encourage all workers to return to work and to allow your representatives to continue productive discussions, without further loss of pay, appealed Fitzgerald.