From Union Aid Abroad – APHEDA:

Mandiri Bank, the largest in Indonesia, has operated since 2003 in Timor-Leste’s capital, Dili. Mandiri is one of small number who operate in the growing finance sector of the recently independent Asian nation. They, alongside others including Australia’s own ANZ, have enjoyed a growth in business in the years since their arrival.

Similarly, a small but dedicated trade union movement have started the task of organising workers following Timor’s independence.

Serikat Pekerja Bank Mandiri Timor-Leste (SP-BMTL), or the Mandiri Bank Workers’ Union (MBWU), was established in 2006 and represents 41 of the 42 workers employed by Mandiri in their Dili office.

However, in recent months bank workers have faced a severe pushback in their right to conduct union activities in the workplace.

On November 30, 2011 Joaquim Gonzaga was dismissed by General Manager, Mr. Mohamad Yani, following an ongoing dispute regarding Yani’s attempt to by-pass collective decision making processes that had been in place at the bank since 2003 and instead appoint a friend to a newly created position at the bank.

Attempts made by the union to reach a settlement in the dispute backfired when Helder Barreto (also chair of the union) was also sacked for attempting to organise a meeting between bank management and the MBWU’s larger affiliate, the General Workers Union of Timor-Leste (GWU).

In response to the seconding dismissal, staff led a protest and demanded that the bank reinstate both workers. This protest failed, and the vice-chair of the union, Leonardo Bele Bau Amaral, became the third casualty when he was also dumped by the bank for organising the staff protest.

According to the Constitution of Timor-Leste, “Dismissal without just cause or on political, religious and ideological grounds is prohibited”. Furthermore, Section 51 stipulates that “every worker has the right to resort to strike, the exercise of which shall be regulated by law”.

The MBWU has continued to engage in peaceful and legal industrial action to protest the decision made by Mandiri management, but still Joaquim, Helder, and Leonardo are still without their jobs.

It is essential that workers’ rights are defended wherever they are attacked. Express your support and solidarity with the union movement of Timor-Leste and say to Mandiri Bank: NO to union busting, YES to workers’ rights.

As far as labour groups are concerned, the strategy of street protests is fundamentally different from the more established ways of dealing with the state and business interests in that it thrives in the absence or in the non-functioning of official institutions of representation, such as political parties, parliaments and the tripartite bodies. Where they perceive institutions of political power to be unresponsive, labour groups provide alternative channels of political participation by their public claim-making and collective actions. Street politics force the reconfiguration of power relations in ways that bypass the careful negotiations and deal-making that take place inside official political institutions. Just when democracy in Indonesia is taking shape and many people are most concerned with its institutions and procedures, labour groups are developing a tradition of popular challenges by way of conflicts, confrontation and potentially dangerous disputes.

From The Jakarta Post:

Millions of contract-based and outsourced workers will regain their rights, including monthly salaries, allowances, severance pay and social security benefits after the Constitutional Court annulled rulings on temporary workers (PKWT) and outsourcing set out in the 2003 Labor Law.

The Court’s panel of judges decided unanimously on Tuesday that all chapters on contract workers and outsourcing in the Labor Law were no longer effective because they contravened the Constitution, which assures the protection of workers and their rights.

…

The Constitutional Court annulled Chapters 59, 64-66 of the Labor Law at the request of Didi Supriyadi, chairman of the Power Meter Readers Union, who was outsourced by a partner company of the state-owned power company PT PLN in Surabaya, East Java.

Since the Labor Law’s enforcement in 2003, many small companies have employed contract-based workers in construction projects and plantations and many others outsourced a part of their work, such as security and cleaning services, to other companies to avoid providing health, meal and transportation allowances and social security benefits to cut labor costs.

Chapter 59 stipulates that labor contracts can be made for temporary work that can be finished within three months at the most while Chapters 64-66 allow companies to outsource parts of their work not included in their core business to other companies.

Separately, the director general for industrial relations at the Manpower and Transmigration Ministry, Myra Maria Hanartani said the ministry was preparing a circular to be disseminated soon to all companies, foundations and other institutions employing workers to comply with the Constitutional Court’s decision until the Labor Law was reviewed.

From The Jakarta Post:

Hemasari Dhatmabumi, Indonesia’s representative for the International Union of Food, Agriculture, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers’ Association (IUF) said they, alongside the Independent Workers’ Union Federation (FSPM), would report the Indonesian government to the World Committee on Tourism Ethics (WCTE) under the auspices of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), should it fail to immediately provide welfare assurance and protection to the workers.

“We demand that the Indonesian government immediately adopt the WCTE regulations and enforce the 2009 Tourism Law,” Hemasari said at the opening of the meeting in Yogyakarta on Tuesday.

[note]: The Jakarta Post misspelled the name of Hemasari Dharmabumi

Nanta was released but struggle continues now for his reinstatement. Remember, few months ago, Teuku Nantasyah (Nanta), FKUI Chairman at Lafarge Cement Indonesia (PT.SAI Lafarge) was arrested by police in Aceh and detained for 30 days. It is only after international pressure that Lafarge took the case seriously and requested the police to release Nanta. ACT NOW! Take one minute of your time to sign our solidarity campaign calling for his reinstatement.

For months Nanta has been engaged in the struggle for workers’ rights against the management. Nanta has been protesting against bad working conditions and raising the issue of decent wages for contract workers. The company employs 215 contract workers.

Nanta has been a contract worker for more than 20 years, earning roughly IDR. 90,000 (USD. 10) per week without proper occupational safety and health equipment and social security.

It is interesting to note that the basis of the campaign is an International Framework Agreement (IFA) between BWI and Lefarge.  IFAs are not collective bargaining agreements.  Rather, they are agreements in which a multi-national corporations commits to maintain certain agreed upon labor standards and are an important vehicle through which the Global Union Federations (GUFs), such as the BWI, can support local affiliates. You can go here for more information on the goals of IFAs and which companies have signed IFAs with the BWI.

With Working Indonesia, I have mostly posted about online campaigns involving workers in Southeast Asia.  If you would like to see a list of these campaigns, you can click on the “E-Action” category keyword.

“This has the potential to send shockwaves through the Indonesian labour movement,” he [Wirahyoso ] said, adding that the victory had prepared the union to take on the fight for any workers who had been forced to work overtime without pay. “We have only just begun.”

Other multinationals operating in Indonesia may be the next targets. Foreign companies, including Nike, Puma and Adidas, often use local factories to supply their products, where high turnover requirements and short time frames can mean that good labour practices are not always guaranteed, according to Oxfam Australia.

The union claims it is standard practice for Indonesian factory employees to work seven days a week without overtime or proper benefits.

“There are more than 100,000 factory workers in Serang, and those who are most prone to overwork are labourers for branded merchandise, since they have to achieve certain targets,” Wirahyoso said.

Nike will pay workers in Indonesia $1 million for unpaid overtime.  A trade union representing 4,500 employees from a plant that sews sneakers accused the sportswear giant of failing to pay nearly 600,000 hours in the last two years. After lengthy negotiations, the Seattle-based company agreed to a settlement.

Bambang Wirahyoso, chairman of the national trade union, says the $1 million will be paid in full by early February.He hopes the case will set a precedent in a country where factory workers often work seven day weeks without overtime or proper benefits.

Some 200 workers who were bussed back last week to the Grasberg mine in the highlands of Papua island have begun work, according to a mine worker who spoke to Reuters by telephone from Grasberg but declined to give his name.

Freeport transported another 300 workers to the mine on Tuesday and others would follow in the days ahead, said union spokesman Virgo Solossa.

“They are effectively back to work on January 2 after attending a three-day work preparation session,” said Solossa, who was in the town of Timika, around 100 km (60 miles) south of the mine in eastern Indonesia.

The strike ended on Dec. 14 with a deal under which Freeport agreed to a pay increase of roughly 40 percent for around 8,000 union members and to a framework for a better deal for roughly 15,000 other non-union workers and contractors.

But a resumption of work was delayed because of a dispute with contractor PT Kuala Pelabuhan Indonesia (KPI) over possible sanctions on workers who took part in the strike. Last week KPI agreed to rehire about 700 workers who went on strike with no sanctions, the union said.

Solossa said he was confident a similar dispute with other sub-contractors that emerged this week had been resolved but the union was waiting for assurances.