Garuda Indonesia Offers Unpaid Leave, President Director: This Is For Those Who Want To Give Birth Or Continue Their Education

Garuda Indonesia aircraft. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (GIAA) offers a new policy in the form of unpaid leave to reduce operational costs. Previously, Garuda also offered early retirement for employees who have worked for more than 30 years for 1,099 employees.

President Director of Garuda Indonesia Irfan Setiaputra explained that this program is a new policy offered for employees who are about to give birth or continue their education.

"Leave is outside our responsibility. Indeed, we plan to provide this scheme especially for those who have just given birth or are about to give birth. This gives them more space with their children. If there are other needs, especially those who are taking college and there are other interests where they can leave status of employees in the company for a certain period of time," he said in a Hearing Meeting (RDP) with Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) at the Parliament Building, Jakarta, Monday, June 21.

Later, said Irfan, before the program was rolled out, communication between the two parties, namely employees and the company, would be carried out in order to reach an agreement. Irfan also guarantees that the entire process will not violate the provisions set by the Ministry of Manpower.

According to Irfan, all company obligations will be paid in accordance with applicable regulations and will be carried out in stages. The program participants were asked not to worry about their rights not being given by the state-owned airline.

"So there are other offers that will be discussed again with other friends. What is clear is that we have no desire to abuse employees at all and secondly we know that today is not the right time to ask people to leave," he said.

As is known, the national airline PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk is being hit by a huge debt problem. Various efforts were made to save the state-owned airline, starting from issuing an early retirement program to cutting the number of commissioners.

Garuda Indonesia (GIAA) does have a red report card in financial aspects, including the value of debt in 2021 which will reach IDR 70 trillion and can continue to grow along with the sluggish aviation business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Deputy Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said that in a month Garuda's operating costs amounted to US$150 million. While the revenue only reached 50 million US dollars.

"So every month we lose 100 million US dollars (Rp 1.4 trillion). It is no longer possible for us to continue in this condition. Indeed, we hope for support from members of the board to enter into the heavy restructuring process," he said in a hearing meeting with the Commission. VI House of Representatives (DPR) RI at the Parliament Building, Jakarta, Thursday, June 3.