Sofian, Jakarta – Loading and unloading activities at the Koja Container Terminal (TPK Koja) in North Jakarta were paralyzed by a strike that began at midnight on May 1 and will continue for two days.

“No loading or unloading will be done until May 3. We are sorry,” said Tedy Herdian, the general secretary of the Koja Container Terminal Employees Trade Union, noting that all 485 employee had joined the strike action.

Herdian added that efforts to shift the loading and unloading activities to the Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT) would be impossible because the JICT Trade Union has refused as an act of solidarity with the striking workers.

According to Herdian, they were forced to go on strike because they have been unable to reach an agreement with the management. The workers said that they are concerned that when an operation cooperation agreement ends in 2018 that there will be no employment security. They are also demanding the replacement of old and aging equipment and an end to discrimination between JICT and TPK Koja employees.

Herdian added that the employees’ demands were not just concerned with workers’ welfare. “We want the TPK Koja to continue to exist because it is a national asset”, he said.

[Abridged translation by James Balowski.]