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Tourists travelling to Bali have received assurances from the management of I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport that this week’s staff strikes will not impact travel.
Members of Angkasa Pura Supports (APS), the union representing airports and aviation industries in Indonesia, will strike for three days for job security and job tenure.
The workers’ strike will take place in the bicycle and motorcycle parking area of I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport.
The peaceful departure will take place from Monday, August 19th to Wednesday, August 20th. The majority of striking employees come from aviation security and customer service, although employees from all departments will participate on strike.
The president of the APS Independent Workers’ Union, Made Dodik Satriawan, said the strike was to demand that the ambiguities in the Permanent Employee Degree project be resolved, as workers and the union believe that this puts job security in a grey area.
The union is demanding that the word “project” be removed from the decree to ensure that it is a permanent commitment and not a temporary “project” that could be dissolved.
Satriawan explained: “The wording in the decree is project. This is very grey because the employment contract is valid until retirement (of the employee). But if you only work until 2026 from 2022, where do you go? This is what worries the friends.”
The union has been examining the decree for three years and believes that the directive contains irregularities and violates labor law.
There are concerns that workers are not being given full employment rights, such as not being paid if they have been with the company for over 13 years, and there are issues with holidays and work allowances because the policies they have to follow are not permanent.
Many employees have the impression that they are more likely to be protected against dismissal for temporary workers than for permanent employees.
Up to 250 employees per shift will go on strike for the next three days. I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport General Manager Handy Heryudhitiawan told reporters on Monday, August 19, “Airport operations are continuing as usual and there are no obstacles in providing services to airport users.”
He continued: “The main thing is that the airport is not closed and is not disrupted. Fortunately, this morning, with the support of various parties, everything is running smoothly; operations are running normally, currently manned by employees and other personnel who are not participating in the action.”
Heryudhitiawan confirmed that the Angkasa Pura Supports team issued a letter outlining the strategy of the strike and committing members to act responsibly in the actions taken during the strike.
Heryudhitiawan added: “Their response was to take responsibility; they will try to fulfill that obligation.”
The ratio of non-union to union staff at Bali Airport is 1:2.
Bali Airport is expected to experience its busiest year ever in 2024. With the island set to exceed the tourism targets set by the government earlier this year, tourism leaders are looking for ways to ensure the smooth running of tourism services across the island, including at Bali Airport.
Another twenty autogates were put into operation at Bali Airport last week, and another twenty are scheduled to open by the end of the month.
In total, 80 automatic gates are available to international travelers to speed up the entry and departure processes.
Tourists using the eVisa on Arrival and other Indonesian e-Visa categories are entitled to use the autogates, which shorten the immigration check time to just a few seconds.
In addition to the autogates, staffed immigration counters are also open and staff are available to answer tourists’ questions about using the new autogate system.
