Category: Labour rights

It has become a custom for Indonesians to commemorate Independence Day by holding competitions. This year the factory also held competitions for the workers inside its grounds. The competitions included panjat pinang (pole climbing) and a singing competition. Read more »

Wednesday was the first day of Ramadan – the Islamic month of fasting. For the next forty days I will fast from dawn till dusk. You may wonder whether fasting affects my ability to concentrate at work. Actually I’ve been doing it since I was young so I don’t have any difficulties; I’m already used to fasting at work. Read more »

Last year I had the opportunity to join in some leadership training conducted by the NGO Kapal Perempuan. I learnt many new things from the training, but as just one example, something that really impressed on me was the way that we perceive the differences between women and men. It’s not true to say that only men can be described as “providers”. But in the past this is an assumption that I had always accepted. Read more »

Today I want to talk a bit about why unions are important for workers like me. I became a member of my union because it pays attention to the situation of workers and their rights, as well as their obligations. I also feel that I’ve been able to learn many things since participating in union activities. For example, I’ve learnt that once the company has made a regulation on our rights it can’t just take those rights away again or erase them. Read more »

After losing my job, my everyday routine has been filled with activities which might ordinarily be carried out by women. Every morning I bathe my child, I change his clothes, I feed him. I even go to the local Posyandu a clinic for infant and maternity health, to have him weighed and receive his immunisation. I carry out all these tasks with great happiness. But to be truthful, I also feel a bit ashamed when I face my neighbours, whose children are all cared for by their mothers. But there’s not much we can do as like it or not my wife is the one who still holds a job. Read more »

In this film, Suparjo shares the challenges that he has faced since his unfair dismissal from an adidas supply factory in 2005. Suparjo hopes that by sharing his story, people in Australia and elsewhere will be inspired to take action and support the rights of workers in Indonesia, so that they can have better lives. Read more »

In mid May I asked for leave from my union activities at GSBI and returned for a fortnight to my parent’s house in a village near the city of Solo, Central Java. At the village I kept busy helping my parents in the fields. My parents are farmers and do not have any regular income. Their own land doesn’t yield enough to cover every day necessities. So to fulfil their daily needs they work as labourers on other people’s land. With their meagre income, my parents still support two of their children (my older sister and young sister), as well as three grandchildren (from my older sister). Read more »

The other morning I spoke with some villagers who live in the district surrounding the Ching Luh factory. They told me about a local hustler who promotes factory recruitment. Potential applicants are asked for money ranging from 2-2.5 million rupiah (equivalent to two months of a factory workers’ full time wage). Read more »

My own recruitment experience serves as evidence of this fact. Earlier this year I was finally offered to sit a test carried out by the CLI human resources department. Read more »

Sometimes my pain is difficult to withstand and I’m uncomfortable about even allowing myself to imagine that my hopes might ever be realised. Read more »