On
November 7, 2011, the Jakarta Globe
reported that "striking workers employed by Freeport-McMoRan Copper &
Gold's subsidiary in Papua have dropped their minimum wage increase demands
from $7.50 to $4.00 an hour, the All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI) said." [xv] Virgo Solosa, an official from the union, told the Jakarta Globe that they considered the
demands, up from the (then) minimum wage of $1.50 an hour, to be "the best
solution for all."
Workers
at Freeport's Cerro Verde copper mine in Peru also went on strike around the
same time, highlighting the global dimension of the Freeport confrontation. The
Cerro Verde workers demanded pay raises of 11 percent, while the company
offered just 3 percent.
The
Peruvian strike ended on November 28, 2011. [xvi]
And on December 14, 2011, Freeport-McMoRan announced a settlement at the
Indonesian mine, extending the union's contract by two
years. Workers at the Indonesia operation are to see base wages, which
currently start at as little as $2.00 an hour, rise 24 percent in the first
year of the pact and 13 percent in the second year. The accord also includes
improvements in benefits and a one-time signing bonus equivalent to three
months of wages. [xvii]
In both
Freeport strikes, the governments pressured strikers to settle. Not only was
domestic militrary and police force evident, but also higher levels of
international involvement. Throughout the Freeport-McMoRan strike, the Obama
administration ignored the egregious violation of human rights and instead advanced US--Indonesian military
ties. US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, who arrived in Indonesia in the
immediate wake of the Jayapura attack, offered no criticism of the assault and
reaffirmed US support for Indonesia's territorial integrity. Panetta also
reportedly commended Indonesia's handling of a weeks-long strike at
Freeport-McMoRan. [xviii]
US
President Barack Obama visited Indonesia in November 2011 to strengthen relations
with Jakarta as part of Washington's escalating efforts to combat Chinese
influence in the Asia--Pacific region. Obama had just announced that the
US and Australia would begin a rotating deployment of 2,500 US Marines to a
base in Darwin, a move ostensibly to modernize the US posture in the region,
and to allow participation in "joint training" with Australian military
counterparts. But some speculate that the US has a hidden agenda in deploying
marines to Australia. The Thai newspaper The
Nation has suggested that one of the reasons why US Marines might be
stationed in Darwin could be that they would provide remote security assurance
to US-owned Freeport-McMoRan's
gold and copper mine in West Papua, less than a two-hour flight away. [xix]
The fact
that workers at Freeport's Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde copper mine in Peru were
also striking at the same time highlights the global dimension of the Freeport
confrontation. The Peruvian workers are demanding pay rises of eleven percent,
while the company has offered just three percent. The strike was lifted on
November 28, 2011. [xx]
In both
Freeport strikes, the governments pressured strikers to settle. Not only was
domestic militrary and police force evident, but also higher levels of
international involvement. The fact that the US Secretary of Defense mentioned
a domestic strike in Indonesa shows that the highest level of power are in play
on issues affecting the international corporate 1 percent and their profits.
Public opinion is strongly against Freeport in
Indonesia. On August 8, 2011, Karishma Vaswani of the BBC reported that "the US
mining firm Freeport-McMoRan has been accused of everything from polluting the
environment to funding repression in its four decades working in the Indonesian
province of Papau. . . . Ask any Papuan on the street what they think of
Freeport and they will tell you that the firm is a thief, said Nelels Tebay, a
Papuan pastor and coordinator of the Papua Peace Network." [xxi]
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