A strike in West Java of shoe factory workers has hit press headlines.
A long history of abuse of rights at the hands of the company, led workers
to attack factory bosses and buildings as well as the leader of the local
branch of the state-run Trade Union, SPSI.
Seven in the morning on 28 September at the PT Sung Hwa Dunia factory in Tangerang. Workers pour out of the 34 dilapidated buses laid on by the factory to ensure the 6,500 workers are not late for their shift; obliged to cram on the buses „like dried fish on hooks“. They know this treatment is inhumane; but what choice do they have? This morning they take their only choice, a choice frowned upon by the state as being anti-Pancasila Industrial Relations (see box). Instead of going into the factory, the workers sit down in the forecourt. There is an air of expectation. By 7.30 most of the 6,500 workers are assembled and the chanting begins. The workers' demand their right to the minimum wage.
By eight, the workers begin to get frustrated. There has been no reaction whatsoever from the South Korean employers. Why were they being ignored? The leader of the factory's branch of SPSI, Kusno Utomo, turns up. The workers see red and hurl abuse and stones at him, claiming he did nothing to promote their interests. A barrage of stones chases the SPSI chief into the factory. Some workers chase him into the factory. Stones shatter windows and doors. Some personnel are slightly injured. Now the workers pour into the factory, grabbing the Nike sports shoes they had been making in return for wages of Rp2,100 per day (around 60p) and throw them up on the roof and into the fishpond.
During all this the Korean bosses have not emerged to answer their workers
demands. Instead they wait for the local military they summoned earlier
to deal with their workforce. Security officers from the local police (Polres
Serang) arrived. Deputy police chief. Major Rudiana tries to talk to the
angry workers; he gets hit by a stone. Realising the bosses are not going
to emerge and speak to them, a representative elected by the workers hands
the security officers the list of demands intended for the company boss,
showing the reasons for calling a strike. The demands were that:
The security forces „coax“ the workers to go home and urge them
to hand over the problem to their leader to discuss the matters with the
still absent bosses. By the time the workers agree to go home, a continuous
traffic jam from Jakarta to Merak on the west coast has developed.
Success...?
The general manager. Lee Kyu Ho and the deputy manager, Frans Keytimu, have decided to satisfy the workers demands. The company official has promised to bring in the basic minimum wage and to give menstruation leave provided the request for leave is accompanied by a letter from the company doctor. The KKB has now been ratified and the matter of its implementation would be dealt with. The company have agreed to gradually increase the number of factory buses. The leader of the Tangerang SPSI branch sacked Kusno from the union and has promised that he would immediately start proceedings to choose a new manager.
All the workers demands have been more or less met. But really what have they achieved? A wage to which they are entitled by law, which does not even come close to satisfying their basic physical needs, the (probable) implementation of an agreement in which they are not consulted and the probability of a few more delapidated buses to cart them into work. They have gained only the little that the law already demands. But if they had not gone on strike, they would not have even got that.
Union unsupportive
The regional leader of the SPSI in Serang, Drs Abdul Hanan, stated the obvious when he told the Jakarta Post that „this incident would never have happened if the bosses had immediately fulfilled the agreements“ (30.09.92). Imam Soedarwo, chairman of the national SPSI management, confirmed this, urging bosses not „to wait until workers smash factory windows“ before increasing wages to comply with government minimum standards. Stating that the Sung Hwa strike was for economic rather than political reasons, he went on to rebuke the workers: protests should be viewed as the last resort action of workers seeking better pay, he said, and should not involve the destruction of property and human life. This weak response of the single trade union is typical, and encapsulates just why the workers have no faith in it as a representative of their needs. Being totally unwilling to take action on behalf of the workers for fear of falling foul of consensus Pancasila Industrial Relations, their post-event comments are useless; instead of defending the workers, they mimic the managers arguments.
Management fear loss of business
In the wake of the demo, the General Affairs Manager of PT Sung Hwa Dunia, Lee Kyu Ho, expressed concern that the violent demonstration by the workers would jeopardise licensing contracts. He said this would lead to thousands of dismissals. While he said the management was considering ways of avoiding the cancellations, he did not once mention whether it would accede to the worker's demands (Merdeka 30.09.92).
Lee Kyu Ho said the US conglomerates behind PT Sung Hwa, Nike and Adidas, had threatened to withdraw contracts because the shoes were being sold on the domestic market; Nike claims these were stolen from the factory. Clearly this risk becomes greater with workers demanding their rights: it could cost Nike and Adidas a cut of their profits.
Nike has authorised 4 South Korean joint venture factories in Jakarta and West Java to manufacture the shoes: PT Sung Hwa Dunia, PT Astra Doo Yang, PT Aneka Handaya Shoes Industry (one of the 13 export companies receiving the Primaniyatra awards for their participation in the country's development Jakarta Post 30.10.92) and PT Tae Hwa. A businessman from the Astra group showed no such concern over losing contracts. He told the press that that workers in Astra companies had never striked as the company had a humanitarian approach, largely because Astra holds 65 percent of the shares in Doo Yang so that the general affairs were dealt with by the Indonesians instead of South Koreans. Workers in Astra Doo Yang received wages of between Rp 2,100 and Rp3,000 a day, as well as lunch and transportation services. Medical facilities were also supplied. To be boasting of providing wages below the minimum required to meet basic physical needs reveals just how much the government gives the companies free rein.
Military protection
The Deputy manager of Sung Hwa, Frans Kangae Keytimu, said that the management still needed security patrols in order to restore calm at the company compound: „We need guards from the Armed Forces until the factory can operate normally again“. These patrols may appear excessive: a platoon (8 to 10 soldiers) from the mobile brigade (police), a platoon from the batallion infantry (army) and a number of officers from the Serang police office (Jakarta Post, 2.10.92).
Regretting the violence at the factory, Kangae went on to say that the
management had „learnt much from the incident“. It is unclear what exactly
they learnt: but certainly it seems not how to treat their workers. „As
a company which produces famous brand name shoes such as Nike, we realise
we have to preserve the name and the reputation of this country“.
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