Hundreds of workers in Indonesia’s nickel industry staged a peaceful rally on Wednesday demanding higher labour safety standards. Three days earlier, 18 people died in a fire, and labour unions vowed to strike if their demands were not addressed.
However, Dedy Kurniawan, a spokesperson for Morowali Industrial Park, the world’s largest ore manufacturer, reported that work was not affected, adding that company officials were holding talks with representatives of the workers.
The rally has no impact on operations because this is a peaceful demonstation.
Katsaing, the chairman of the workers’ union, Serikat Pekerja Indonesia Sejahtera (SPIS), stated that about 300 workers joined the rally on Wednesday.
Our main demand is for the companies to comply with the occupational health and safety law.
The industrial park, which occupies more than 3,000 hectares on the eastern island of Sulawesi, focuses on nickel processing. In total, the park employs 70,000 workers in dozens of companies.
Sunday’s fire at a nickel smelter furnace owned by Indonesia’s Tsingshan Stainless Steel, a unit of China’s Tsingshan Holding Group, killed 10 Indonesian and eight Chinese workers. Dedy reported that operations at the smelter had been suspended while police investigate the cause of the fire, but operations at other plants in the park were not affected, he added.
Deputy labour minister Afriansyah Noor has promised to strengthen labour safety laws.
Indonesia has banned the export of unprocessed nickel ore in a bid to promote domestic smelting and refining, but the sector has suffered several fatal incidents in recent years.
