Police clashed with more than a thousand striking workers Oct. 10 at a mine run by US-based Freeport McMoran in Indonesia’s Papua region, leaving at least one worker dead. The All-Indonesian Workers Trade Union (SPSI) told the Jakarta Globe that three other miners were critically wounded as police fired on the crowd. Authorities said at least six police officers were injured in the violence at the sprawling Grasberg complex, one of the world’s biggest gold and copper mines. The workers, who are mostly indigenous Melanesians, are demanding that their current minimum wage of $1.50 an hour be raised to $12.50. (Jakarta Globe, Oct. 10)
See our last posts on West Papua and the global mineral cartel.
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