However, the national flag carrier had to take such a policy of seeking international pilots because the company wants to train its new prospective pilots.
The new prospective domestic pilots need adequate trainings in order to be able to operate newly arrived aircraft in the years to come.
In addition, PT Garuda Indonesia Vice President Corporate Communication, Pujobroto, said in Surabaya, East Java, over the weekend that the policy of employing foreign pilots was also in line with the company`s business development program.
Pujobroto also said the employment of international pilots by Garuda was temporary and done on a contractual basis for only a year.
"Besides, we are currently implementing our `Quantum Leap` program as part of our efforts to make Garuda a competitive airline company in the international aviation world." Pujobroto said.
According to Pujobroto, the employment of foreign pilots by Garuda Indonesia will provide support towards the realization "Asean Open Sky 2015".
"It is because we believe that the human resources of foreign pilots are more ready than domestic ones, although the foreign pilots are employed under contract," Pujobroto said.
To meet Garuda`s demand of pilots with the arrival of 154 new air-crafts in 2015, Pujobroto admitted that the company has made a cooperation in recruiting new aviators from flight schools such as PLP Curug and Bali International Flight Academy.
"But the newly recruited pilots require further education before being tasked to operate the aircraft," he said.
To meet the needs of aviators, Pujobroto added that Garuda had to recruit well-prepared pilots including foreign ones who have been ready to operate the aircraft.
"In accordance with the provisions of the company, we apply the employment for the employees with permanent status and contract status," Pujobroto said.
Especially for the employees who work under contract, he said they received bigger pay than the permanent workers of the company.
"But contract employees do not receive various facilities such as retirement health insurance, pensions, and short leave," he said.
Since Garuda began hiring foreign pilots, hundreds of its domestic pilots grouped in the Garuda Pilots Association (APG) were reported restless because of alleged discrimination in the company`s remuneration policy.
"We are restless because there is discrimination in the company`s welfare standards. Foreign pilots in the positions of captain and first officer are paid higher salaries than their domestic peers," Said Damanik, APG legal counsel Said Damanik said in Jakarta recently.
Damanik admitted that the salaries of local plots with Garuda were two times lower than those of foreign pilots in the state-owned airline company.
This had happened because Garuda`s human resources development planning for pilots was not kept in harmony with the pace at which the company was expanding, he said.
"Garuda has been actively expanding its fleet without properly anticipating the corresponding increase in its need for pilots so it resorted to hiring foreign pilots," Damanik said.
He said the APG had tried to help solve the problem by twice asking for a meeting with the Garuda management but the meetings ended in deadlock.
"The Garuda management was only represented by its director of operations instead of its president director so that the meetings failed to result in a strategic decision," Damanik said.
Now the APG was demanding equality in the salaries of domesic and foreign pilots employed by Garuda.
"We give the management two weeks` time as of today (Tuesday, July 12) to settle this matter or else we will pursue other industrial options, including going on strike," Damanik said.
Meanwhile, two APG members Ramonaya and Ais Sampe Sule said local Garuda pilots had actually been restless since 2003.
"Our restlessness peaked since Garuda began vigorously hiring foreign pilots a few years ago," Ramonaya and Ais said.
Ais said a new local captain pilot was paid Rp43 million per month while a foreign captain pilot could earn as much as Rp100 million or US$10,200 per month.
He said Garuda at present had around 40 foreign pilots and 700 local pilots plus around 100 pilots on contact so the company was employing a total of 850-900 pilots.
Meanwhile, the management of PT Garuda Indonesa has admitted that the income of its foreign pilots was actually higher than that of the local aviators.
"Garuda`s foreign pilots certainly get higher pay than their domestic colleagues because they are employed to work this year only," Garuda Indonesia operation director Captain Ari Safari admitted recently.
Ari Safari made the statement in response to an open statement made by hundreds of Garuda`s local pilots that they were restless because of the alleged discrimination.
But he added that the policy of employing foreign pilots was not new, because Garuda also did the same thing in 1970s when they had a housing allowance in Singapore.
Asked about the threat of local pilots to go on strike to demand better pay, Ari was of the opinion that it was not necessary.
The local pilots grouped in the Garuda Pilots Association (APG) decided to go on strike because they no longer trusted the management of Garuda Indonesia and asked for an immediate change.
But the state-owned airline company`s management admitted that it was hard to meet the demand of the local pilots.
(Uu.O001/HAJM/F001)
Reporter: by Otniel Tamindael
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
