Newmont trainees upset over payment

Workers at gold mine operator PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) have complained over the small amount of salaries and working condition at the company, Bali Pos reported on Saturday.

The trainees, who are mostly on a three-month probation, said that their monthly salaries of Rp 300,000 was quite small because they had to work 10 hours a day for five days a week. They were also afraid that the company, which is controlled by Newmont Mining Corp of the United States, would extend their probation time to six months as trick of the company to maintain the low wages.

"I have been working here for months as a trainee, with a monthly salary of Rp 300,000. It is not enough to survive with my family," one worker said. Other workers said that they should have been fully accepted as the company's permanent workers because most of its non-staff positions remained vacant.

The trainees said that they had arranged a demonstration to protest the company's treatment on them.

The company's spokes person Iradati Fuad denied that the company had a bad trick in handling its workers especially those who were on their probation period.

She said that the company had even set up a foundation called Yayasan Pembangunan Ekonomi Sumbawa Barat to hire tainees who could not be accepted as permanent workers in the company. The foundation operates several business activities to support the company's operation. (*)