Policemen escort Indian workers of PT Drydocks World Graha
after violence broke out at a shipyard on Batam Island last week.
The company says the vast majority of its
permanent staff were not involved.
The company at the center of the violence in Batam on Thursday has hit back against findings of the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration that the company was allegedly riddled with problems.
A spokesman for PT Drydocks World Graha said they had had no contact with Haiyani Rumondang, the ministry’s director of industrial relations and dispute resolution, who conducted a news conference in Jakarta on Monday to criticize the company.
“For the record, there have been no consultations or discussions whatsoever with this person or this department named and we are surprised they have apparently issued preliminary findings without contacting the company for comment/inputs,” the spokesperson wrote.
In a later statement, the company said that Pertama and Nanindah, two of Drydocks World’s three shipyards on Batam Island had “re-opened for business as usual” on Monday.
Drydocks World Southeast Asia, “reported that more than 70 percent of shipyard staff were now at work and the company is expecting that Graha will resume operations this week.”
The company said that it had launched its own investigation into the violence — allegedly sparked as a result of pay disparities between Indonesian and foreign workers, and a racist comment by an Indian national — and preliminary results indicated that the “vast majority of Drydocks World’s 1,919 directly employed workforce at Graha were not involved in the incident.”
Denis Welch, Drydocks World South East Asia chief executive officer, thanked DDW-SEA workforce “for their restraint, calm and loyalty in the light of last week’s regrettable incident.”
In the statement, Welch said the trouble appeared to be centred on sub-contract labour rather than DDW-SEA’s own directly employed workforce. The company uses around 30 sub-contractor companies at the three DDW-SEA Batam yards, which employ around 16,000 workers.
He added that the Indonesian authorities, with the full support of the Batam police, were treating the investigation into the events on April 22 as a criminal act.
The incident, which National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri labelled “spontaneous”, resulted in four workers being taken to hospital with minor injuries. Two workers have been discharged from hospital, one is pending discharge and one is detained in hospital in a stable condition, the statement said.
Drydocks World said that senior managers from the company’s parent group in Dubai had arrived in Batam to assist with the investigation and to ensure the Graha yard returned to normal working as quickly as possible.
Denis Welch added: “Since taking over the yards in 2008, we have enjoyed excellent relations between our multi-national, multi-ethnic workforce employed on Batam without a single formal complaint being lodged by any worker. This isolated incident mars that excellent track record and we will not allow it to be repeated.”
The group has in place a grievance and complaints procedure at all its yards and employees should use these procedures if they feel they are victims of racial slurs or any kind of ill treatment in the workplace.
Mr Welch also pointed out that one of Drydocks World’s key objectives on Batam was to increase the skill levels and overall number of locally recruited direct employees. When DDW-SEA took over the yards in 2008, the number of directly employed Indonesians stood at 1,400 and today that figure is 5,688.
DDW-SEA has a stated policy of increasing the percentage of directly employed workers at all three yards in Batam and has invested heavily in training facilities on the island to implement the policy. This has included opening a dedicated training centre to develop and upgrade the skills of directly employed yard workers.
“People in this region are experienced and pleased to work together regardless of race or color. Shipbuilding and repair is an international industry and we must continue to work together in a united manner and atmosphere of mutual respect,” Welch added.
