Freeport-McMoRan said on 20 February that the company had laid off 10% of expatriate workers in its Indonesian unit, following a contract dispute with the Indonesian government. Adkerson reportedly said that the company would also start letting go Indonesian contract workers this week. Adkerson told reporters that out of Freeport-McMoRan Indonesia's (FMI) 32,000 workers, about 20,000 are contractors, while the rest are employees. The contract dispute has prevented the FMI from carrying out its copper export from Papua province since January. The dispute revolves around a government regulation issued on 12 January, which requires companies operating under the Contract of Work (CoW) regime - FMI being the most notable example - to operate under a different system known by its Indonesian acronym as an IUPK licence, before they are permitted to export. Adkerson added that the company has notified the government that the regulation was a breach of contract. The notification is the start of a 120-day period for both parties to resolve the matter, after which FMI reserves the right to bring the dispute to international arbitration.