Open Voice About Layoffs Of Hundreds Of Employees, Boss Aerofood ACS: We Apologize For Those Affected, This Is An Unavoidable Difficult Choice

JAKARTA - PT Aerofood Indonesia (Aerofood ACS) has raised its voice regarding the news of the termination of employment (PHK) of hundreds of its employees. This decision is part of an effort to optimize human resources (HR) which is unavoidable due to financial pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

President Director of Aerofood ACS I Wayan Susena said this step was an unavoidable part of efforts to continue to survive and improve business performance.

"This is a difficult and difficult choice for us in the midst of a significant decline in performance and systemic impact on the company's financial performance in the long term," he said in an official statement received by VOI, Thursday, July 28.

For more than two years throughout the pandemic, Aerofood ACS recorded a significant decrease in revenue to reach 73 percent of normal conditions and suffered losses based on the Audited Financial Statements.

Furthermore, Wayan said that the traffic for in-flight and industrial catering services also experienced a drastic decline with the value of losses increasing every year.

"With the projection of recovery opportunities that will still take place in the next few years, we certainly realize that the choice to continue to improve is a necessity that must be done," he said.

Wayan emphasized that the HR optimization policy was carried out through adjusting the composition of the number of employees, carried out carefully by ensuring that the urgency of termination of employment was the last option that the company needed to take in the midst of this challenging period.

Wayan said, the communication process with all parties regarding this policy plan has also been carried out in stages and is in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations regarding the Postponement of Debt Payment Obligations (PKPU) as well as labor provisions.

All pending obligations in the Collective Labor Agreement (PKB) have also been fulfilled by the Company in accordance with the principles of transparency and good corporate governance.

"We apologize to at least 138 permanent employees of Aerofood ACS who have been affected by this policy. We also express our gratitude to those who have contributed and built Aerofood ACS to this stage. ACS persists in the midst of its performance pressure," he said.

As previously reported, Aerofood laid off 152 employees. The news was revealed from a letter of rejection of layoffs submitted by the ACS Prosperous Employees Union to the President Director of Aerofood Indonesia, I Wayan Susena.

For your information, Aerofood Indonesia is a business line of PT Aero Wisata which is a subsidiary of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. Aerofood uses a brand with the name Aerofood ACS. This company provides Indonesian aviation food services. Aerofood's business scope includes in-flight catering service, in-flight logistics industrial service and commercial service.

In the letter of objection, the Chairman of the ACS Prosperous Employees Union, Agus Sulistiyo, claimed that Aerofood had made a unilateral layoff. Agus said the management took this attitude without an agreement with the union.

"That the decision to lay off was carried out unilaterally and without any agreement with us, the Executives of the ACS Sekar Sejahtera Workers Union," Agus said as stated in the letter, quoted Wednesday, July 27.

Agus also said that the unilateral dismissal decision made by the management is clearly against the law and this has created disharmonious industrial relations. In fact, employees become restless and uneasy at work.

Then, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)'s statement regarding the ban on layoffs also became the basis for the ACS Prosperous Employees Union to criticize Aerofood Indonesia's management.

"However, the fact is that currently the management of PT Aerofood Indonesia as a subsidiary of PT Garuda Indonesia is actually doing layoffs unilaterally. The actions of the management of PT Aerofood Indonesia clearly ignore the direction of President Jokowi," he said.