Striking Freeport Employees Lower Wage Increase Demands

Striking workers employed by Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold’s subsidiary in Papua have dropped their minimum wage increase demands from $7.50 to $4 an hour, the All Indonesian Workers Union said on Monday.

Virgo Solosa, an official from the union, known as the SPSI, told the Jakarta Globe that they considered the demands, up from the current minimum wage of $1.50 an hour, to be “the best solution for all.”

Virgo said Freeport management were currently offering $3 an hour.

He said the union was also demanding that striking workers that had been fired by the company be rehired without sanctions.

“It should also be applied to contract workers,” he said. “There should be no sanctions and both sides should learn a lesson from the strike.”

The Grasberg mine is estimated to be running at 5 percent of its full capacity during the crippling strike.

Virgo said the $4 an hour figure was approved, employees would work to catch up on the lost production.

The union and Freeport management are meeting again today.