Newmont and Newcrest Face Scrutiny Over Gosowong Workers as Supreme Court Ruling Goes Unenforced

JAKARTA, Wartapembaruan.co.id — More than 735 former workers of PT Nusa Halmahera Mineral (NHM) at the Gosowong gold mine in North Halmahera, North Maluku, remain without severance pay years after mass layoffs, despite a final, binding ruling by Indonesia's Supreme Court ordering their compensation to be paid.

The workers, many of whom gave over two decades of their careers to operations in Halmahera, are now calling on the Indonesian government to enforce the law after Newmont Corporation issued a public statement that conspicuously failed to address the existence of the Supreme Court ruling, let alone its legal obligation to comply with it.

The dispute has already run its full course through Indonesia's legal system. The Industrial Relations Court at the Ternate District Court ruled in favor of the workers in Decision No. 5/Pdt.Sus-PHI/2023/PN Tte, a ruling later upheld at the highest level through Supreme Court cassation ruling No. 734 K/Pdt.Sus-PHI/2024. The ruling is final and legally binding under Indonesian law.

Yet Newmont's response, issued by Director of Communications Jessica Geurkink, made no mention of either ruling. Instead, the company stated that "all labor-related obligations arising from the divestment process are the responsibility of the current owners and operators of the mine," and that the matter predated Newmont's acquisition of Newcrest Mining. Legal observers say this framing is legally insufficient and does not engage with the substance of what Indonesian courts have already decided.

Legal and human rights practitioner Husendro was direct in his assessment. "Ignoring a Supreme Court ruling cannot be tolerated because it undermines the authority of the legal system," he said. "Severance pay is a fundamental workers' right protected by law. It cannot be set aside for business reasons, and it certainly cannot be set aside by choosing not to acknowledge a court's existence." Husendro also highlighted the principle of successor liability, the legal doctrine that obligations remain attached to a business regardless of changes in corporate ownership, as directly applicable here. Newmont's acquisition of Newcrest in 2023 brought with it the inherited legal landscape of Newcrest's prior operations, including unresolved worker claims.

Public policy expert Trubus Rahardiansah of Trisakti University reinforced this position. "If rulings from the lower court all the way up to the Supreme Court are consistent, then they must be implemented," he said. "Foreign investors operating in Indonesia are obliged to comply with Indonesian law. This is not discretionary."

Rusli Gailea, Chairman of the SPSI Labor Union at PT NHM, said the outstanding severance total is estimated at over Rp100 billion, owed to workers who, in many cases, dedicated more than 20 years to the mine. "We have pursued every legal avenue available to us, including cassation at the Supreme Court level," Rusli said. "The ruling exists. The obligation exists. And yet the payments remain unpaid." 

The dispute traces back to the 2020 ownership change at PT NHM, which followed Newcrest Mining's divestment from the Gosowong operation. Under the 2018–2020 Collective Labor Agreement in force at the time, any change of ownership carried an explicit obligation to settle workers' rights, including severance compensation. Workers say that obligation was never fulfilled.

Newmont's public statement emphasized its "commitment to responsible business practices, compliance with applicable laws and agreements, and fair treatment of workers across all operations”, while simultaneously declining to address the one piece of Indonesian law most directly relevant to this dispute: the Supreme Court's cassation ruling. The company also stated it "will continue to pursue appropriate measures to protect its position and reputation," a formulation that workers' advocates say is directed inward rather than toward resolution.

The former workers are now calling on the Indonesian government, including relevant ministries and enforcement bodies, to compel compliance with the court's ruling. "If even a Supreme Court ruling can be ignored, then where is legal certainty for ordinary people?" said one workers' representative. "We are not asking for special treatment. We are asking for what the highest court in this country has already said we are owed."