From: Bhumika Muchhala (b_muchhala@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri Dec 21 2001 - 01:11:55 EST
Action Alert – Write a Letter to Garteks Members Today!
12/20/01
Indonesian Garment Workers’ Union Calls on Support from USAS
Hello USAS,
Many of you have already written letters of solidarity and moral support to the Garteks workers about ready to enter contract negotiations in January. Some of you have not, but I hope after you read this alert will pick up your pen (or keyboard) and do so!
This Alert is to give you all more background on the situation in the hat factory in Indonesia producing for over 60 U.S. universities, and let you hear from the workers themselves what they are experiencing there. As this is not a “campaign” and still confidential information for the most part, there are a lot of details we cannot disclose for it may endanger the workers and their campaign strategy.
In this alert you’ll find:
A) Factory Profile
B) Workplace Conditions
C) Union Situation
D) What you can do!
E) In Their Own Words: Letters from the Workers
A) Factory Profile:
This Korean owned factory makes hats for over sixty U.S. universities and colleges as well as for Adidas, Gap, Old Navy, and Harley Davidson to name only a few of their buyers. Nike is not a buyer at this factory and the university products are made by lesser know brand names, but make up 30 to 40% of total production at the factory. The workforce, around five thousand, is relatively large for Indonesia and the workplace conditions are relatively terrible (terrible indeed by any standards, but also relatively terrible in comparison to other garment factories in Indonesia).
B) Workplace Conditions:
Some key issues that the workers have voiced to us are:
- Intimidation to workers that do not want to affiliate with the management-led union.
- Social security/health insurance that is cut from workers paychecks each month but never made accessible to workers,
- No food stipend (a standard in Indonesia),
- Verbal, mental and sexual harassment,
- Forced overtime,
- Approximately 1 hour of unpaid work every day (1 hour that's mandatory but not paid for),
- Denial of worker's legal annual leave, menstrual leave, and sick leave.
- Harassing workers and sometimes preventing workers from praying (90% of them are Muslim, hence pray five times a day,)
- Many health issues due to lack of safety equipment, rules against wearing shoes in the factory, and pace of work.
- Inadequate transportation stipend
…among many other problems.
C) The Union Situation:
There are two unions at the factory: TSK status-quo (that’s literally the name of the union!), the government and management co-opted union that has permission to cut dues from all employees’ paychecks monthly but only represents the supervisors and managers, and Garteks a factory level branch of the largest independent union in Indonesia (SBSI). SBSI was forced to operate several years underground because it was deemed “an enemy of the state” under the former President (aka Military Dictator) Suharto’s regime. Many of SBSI organizers have been imprisoned and killed, but in 1998 when Suharto was pushed out of power by a popular uprising many unions, including SBSI/Garteks were allowed to surface and register as legal unions with the Ministry of Manpower. At this factory Garteks had around 50% membership on paper (100% support in the strike they lead last July – see below), but due severe intimidation tactics used by the management in recent months their membership has dropped to 30%.
A strike spontaneously broke out in July when the government rose fuel and subsequently transportation prices again, but the management did not raise the workers transportation stipend. Neither of the unions knew the strike was going to happen, but when it did Garteks took a leading support role. The work stoppage lasted one week and the list of demands included: a higher transportation allowance, a food allowance (most factories have a food allowance, this factory has never given one), easier access to one’s annual leave (currently it’s very hard for workers to get their annual allotted 12 days of leave), and better health care (the factory clinic is very poorly equipped and staffed), attendance bonuses, and proper overtime pay.
The city government (DPRD) stepped in to participate in the negotiations. It helped the negotiations happen, by bringing together Garteks, TSK, and the management at a town meeting. But the DPRD was very biased on the side of the company and YSK and did not really represent the workers. The DPRD pushed the inexperienced and ill prepared bargaining team from Garteks to sign a written agreement with the management that only addressed a few of their demands in the slightest, most watered down way possible. Furthermore, the workers and Garteks organizers have never been given a copy of this agreement despite several attempts times to obtain a copy from DPRD and Ministry of Manpower. The one good part of the written agreement was that it included a statement that workers who participated in the strike would not be fired. However 77 workers were laid off almost overnight, and hundreds have been fired in the months since July.
The Garteks members plan to try again soon, but this time not through a strike immediately. They plan go into negotiations this January or February for a CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement). Garteks have held a few weekend trainings to get ready for the upcoming contract bargaining negotiations, but they are still scared to take on their management. None of their bargaining team has been part of a union before, and most of them are between the ages of 17 and 22.
A couple weeks ago, Garteks approached the management with a proposal to have a negotiation, and suggested to the management a certain timeframe by which to respond and cooperate with a negotiation process. The management has still not responded, and has instead been sending hired thugs to intervene in the independent unions’ meetings and harass Garteks members outside of the factory. Some female members of Garteks (who are held at the factory until 10, 11pm, or even sometimes 2am) have reported unknown men following them home at night, or waiting for them in their apartments. These hired thugs told the union organizers that they were sent by the management to find out what is being talked about and planned at the independent unions’ meetings.
This timeline, need for moral support, and increasing intimidation and violation of workers rights is precisely why the members also want to start building up a relationship with USAS now. Please send your letters ASAP! See below for a sample in English and Indonesian, as well as letters to you from the workers themselves.
E) What you can do!
At this point, the workers at this factory are uncertain whether or not they will need an international solidarity campaign from USAS. What workers are asking from USAS right now are solidarity letters in the interest of beginning a dialogue/conversation with students in the U.S.
These letters should:
- Convey encouragement and moral support in their upcoming CBA negotiations with the management,
- Give hope and strength in confronting and enduring the intimidation and harassment that many workers have received from the more powerful management-led union and
- State that your USAS chapter hopes that the management will bargain in good faith and fairly with the workers.
It would also be great to collect photos of your campus chapter. Those of us from the CARI Indonesia team have seen that photographs and letters mean a lot to workers, as it is a visible and tangible sign of solidarity that they can connect with.
Got any questions? Call Chad at (503)472-9102 or Bhumika at 202-NO-SWEAT. You can also email us at merdeka@riseup.net or bhumika620@yahoo.com Please send your solidarity letters and inspirational photos, quotes etc. for translation to the same email addresses above via post to the USAS Washington D.C. office:
United Students Against Sweatshops,
888 16th St, NW, Suite 303,
Washington, DC, 20006
Your commitment to support the struggles of workers who make our collegiate-apparel all over the world is important. Writing letters and sending pictures is a very easy and tangible activity for your group to do. And it will make a difference to these workers sense of self-confidence as it will show them that they have a larger network of support out there. The value of transnational solidarity that knows no borders is at the very core of our international solidarity work.
***********************Sample Letter************************************
Hello Friends at Garteks,
I am a student from the university of ___________________________________.
First I would like to say “Thank You” for all of your work making products for universities, including my campus. Whenever I see the hats bearing my university’s logo I remember you and good people like yourself who made those hats with so much gentle care and hard work.
Secondly, I want to say “Good Luck!” My friends and I here are thinking about you often and sending you our solidarity. We are with you in your struggle, and we are ready to take action with you if you want us to. We wish you courage, spirit/energy, safety, and success in your struggle.
Thanks again for all of your hard work.
Warm Greetings,
Halo Kawan-Kawan Garteks,
Saya adalah mahasiswa(i) dari universitas__________________________________.
Pertama-tama saya ingin mengucapcan “Terima Kasih Banyak!” untuk semua kerja kamu, khsusnya terhadap produk-produk yang untuk universitas-universitas termasuk kampus saya. Setiap kali saya lihat topi-topi dengan logo sekolah saya saya ingat kamu, dan banyak orang baik lain seperti kamu, membuat topi-topi itu dengan kerja rajin dan keras.
Hal Kedua, saya ingin mengucapkan “Semoga Sukses!” Saya dan teman-teman dari kampus saya mengirim kamu banyak solidaritas. Kami akan mengikuti terus perjuangan kamu dengan berdoa dan aksi bersama! Semoga berani, semangat, selamat, dan sukses!
Terima kasih lagi untuk semua kerja keras kamu.
Salam Hangat,
***********************Sample Letter************************************
These letters, stories actually, were written by three different workers from the same factory (the factory this Alert is about) in July and August of this year. The idea to write something addressed broadly to “students in the U.S.” was suggested by the CARI Indo team, but the words are entirely the girls own. All three of the authors are between the ages of 17 and 19. The CARI Indo team has translated the letters. If you feel moved to republish these letters in your schools newspaper we suggest, and the authors encourage it, re-publishing them as a letters to the editor or Op-ed’s.
Letter from a PT worker to Students in America
By N.W. August 2001
When I first came to Tangerang looking for work I had just graduated from high school. In truth, I really wanted to continue with school like the fortunate people my age. My parents also really wanted me to go on to college, but they didn’t have the money. They had just spent a lot of money paying for my older sibling’s schooling, and they didn’t have enough left for me. I understood the difficult position my parents were in, but at that time all I could do was hug them and tell them I understood. As the economy worsened and the cost of school rose, not to mention food and other things, it became increasingly clear to me that I should leave and look for work. So, I came to Tangerang to find a job.
I first applied for a job at PTGR [a company that makes lots of clothes, mainly undergarments, for export]. I trained at PTGR for two weeks but at the end of the training I was not accepted as a regular employee. The rejection hit me hard, I felt incredibly sad and hopeless. But then I reminded myself, that as long I was far from home I had to struggle. I had to find work. I had to remain determined, struggle, and pray.
I applied to every factory in the area, and prayed continuously, but I was still not accepted anywhere. My depression and sadness worsened. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t accepted. Why did everyone see me as worthless? I wanted to return home but my older sibling [working in the area] told me that I couldn’t. He/She [doesn’t specify gender] told me that I had to apply again, even to places that had rejected me, and that I would eventually be selected. But I still wanted to go home. I packed my bags, my clothes were all folded and ready to go, when my sibling told me that I couldn’t travel back by myself. This annoyed me because I felt I was already able to protect myself. Luckily, on almost the same day I was planning to leave I received news from PT that, thanks be to God, I was accepted for training there. I was sent a letter from the manager Mr. Kenwa, the Korean manager, asking me to come in the next Saturday. I was so relieved and happy. In the meeting I was told that I was accepted to work, but that the first two days on the job would just be for training.
Now I work in the quality control (QC) section of PT. Aside from QC I’ve also been trained a little as to how to make the bills of the hats. I do QC particularly in the hat division of PT, if I see something wrong with a hat I have to bring it back to the sewing department to do over again, or else the hat becomes a reject. Because my job requires that I stand and walk around all day my feet and legs always hurt a lot. Sometimes I can’t handle the pain and I start to cry. Feelings of sorrow overwhelm me – I think about the fact that I have to keep working, and of how I desperately need the money. At times like these I think of my parents. All I want to do is hug them and cry in their arms, but then I remember how much they’re counting on me to make money.
When I received my first paycheck I saw that my weekly salary was going to be about 51,900 rupiah [about 5 dollars]. I was pleased with this, even though it was very little, and set out to find a kos [a small, one-room apartment most often shared by two or more workers] so that I could live separately from my older sibling. Of course my sibling didn’t want me to go, but I insisted because I really wanted to see what it felt like to be independent. But after a few weeks of my new routine of going to work early in the morning and coming home late at night it didn’t feel good to be alone anymore so I moved back in with my sibling.
From all of my time at PT there is one thing that has always left a bitter taste in my mouth – the difficulties workers face in claiming their sick leave. I was once sick for two days and, as we are supposed to, I sent in a letter from my doctor explaining that I was ill, but the management still didn’t believe me and still threatened to fire me if I didn’t come back to work. When I returned to work I was very afraid. I was afraid for missing so much work. My body was still very weak and I had a splitting headache, yet, I pushed myself to come because I knew if I missed another day I’d get in trouble. I tried to work all day but I couldn’t really work at my maximum strength. Then suddenly I turned very pale and fainted. When I woke I realized that they had carried me to the mushola [a small area in side buildings for Muslims to pray]. I started crying because I really wanted to go home but they wouldn’t let me. When the workday was over I was finally allowed to go home with everyone else. That same morning I had been called into my boss’s office and questioned, “Why did you miss the last two days of work?” I tried to explain that I had been sick but he would barely let me get a word out. He got very angry at me and said, “This is not a place to take a break, this is not a place for lazy people! ” These words hurt my heart very much and left me feeling sicker than before. I felt like saying to him “Fine, I don’t need to work here anyway!” and walking away, but of course I knew I couldn’t do that.
Month after month I have learned what it feels like to be a worker. I have worked from day until night for so many days straight that I barely realized one year had already passed. And during this year I haven’t been able to send any money home to my parents. Even after moving back in with my older sibling we haven’t been able to send the money home that we had hoped. So much money goes just to rent. Then there are groceries, cooking gas, transportation, and so many other little costs that add up. If there is little or no overtime our money runs out before the month is over.
~ End~
By worker T.E.
I’ve been working at PT for three years now. I have been in the sewing department most of the time I’ve been at PT, and that’s where I work now. In this department we have to know how to sew very well but also very fast. We get yelled at for the smallest mistake, but we also have to sew about 5000 hats a day.
At PT our “standard” workday is eight hours, starting from 7:30am until 3:30pm, with only one 30 to 45 minute break, but we always work longer than this. Our wages are counted as the workday starting at 7:30am, but we are all required to be inside the building at our workstations by 7am. Furthermore, we often work longer because we don’t meet our target. In the factory we are divided up into lines. Each line has fifty people, and every line is expected to reach the target of 5000 hats a day. Sometimes if we finish earlier than other lines we are able to leave a bit early, but usually this doesn’t happen. Usually we all end up staying later than 3:30pm. More often than not we go home between 5 and 7pm. If there are a lot of orders we are held at the factory as late as 11pm or midnight.
Just recently I was held extremely late, until 3:30 am, because we had a large order that had to go out the next. Since the order was for export to the U.S., primarily Baby GAP and university logo baseball caps, we had to closely inspect the quality of each piece. Around midnight we were told that 3000 of the hats needed to be done over again because they were “below standard”, so we were asked to stay and rip open all of the hats and re-sew them.
Aside from sewing I am also in charge of monitoring production. If the production results are good sometimes I get a word or two of praise from the Korean management, if it is not I am certain to be yelled with rude and crass words that hurt my feelings. Often they use mean words in Korean that I can’t understand, but what’s clear by their tone is that they are insulting and degrading words.
A few months ago the workers at my factory went on strike for a week. We didn’t win many of our demands because the government colluded with the company to break the strike quickly and settle with very week agreement. But we are determined to keep on struggling for change! Our demands were:
~End~
Struggling for Life
by Chom
This morning I reside in Tangerang. I come from a village to the east of Tangerang, about 100 kilometers way, or three and half hours by bus. When I departed from my parents’ house, they only said a few words as tears fell on their cheeks. I cried too of course. I only asked that they pray for me to find work quickly, and in my heart I made a promise to help my parent as soon as possible.
I walked slowly away from my house, looking back as it grew smaller and smaller in the distance, until I couldn’t see it any more. From there I hitched a ride on a motorbike to get to the center town of my province. From there I had to wait for a car or bus that could take me to Tangerang. After about fifteen minutes a bus came along, but it was really full. I didn’t realize how full it was when I was in line, but when I got on I saw that there were no more seats. I would have to stand.
It felt so strange to be all alone on a crowded bus, with no place to sit. The thick cigarette smoke was giving me a headache. I thought for sure I was going to be sick. In my heart I felt very resentful, but then this is the way public transportation is. I did my best to hold on to my emotions even though the noise of everything, especially the screaming little kids, was really getting to me.
Once I got to Tangerang I went to a friend’s house. She lives in a small house owned by the union at her factory because she is a worker activist. I had a very hard time adapting to living there. Even though I was not very far from my village, this new place really surprised me. It is a town with a very busy environment and many different ethnicities I had never encountered before. But little by little I struggled to adapt and feel at home there.
Soon after I arrived my friend invited me to apply for work in a place near our home. I applied but wasn’t accepted because I didn’t have enough experience yet nor the proper paper work, mainly I needed a KTP [identity card] I returned to my house very disappointed. Many of my friends still hadn’t found work either.
So every day I would visit several companies in the area applying and re-applying for work. I didn’t let the search for work bore me, nor did I feel the tiredness of my body because I wanted to help my parents back in the village. In actuality, I had wanted to continue my education and go on to SLTA [high school], but my parents didn’t have the funds to send me to school anymore. I needed to find work to help pay for my younger siblings’ primary education.
Finally, God heard the wishes in my heart and I was accepted to work at a factory. But, the place was very far from where I was living, about 45 minutes away. To get to work I had to take two different types of public transportation. Sometimes heavy rain would pour down, but I would still have to find my way work. The work system there was in shifts. I left for work every night at 11pm because I worked the third shift (12 am to 7:30am).
I struggled to get money to eat and for other basic needs. At that time I still wasn’t helping support my parents because I wasn’t making enough to meet even my own daily needs. Every day, even though my body was exhausted, I would go to work. I didn’t feel the exhaustion; all I could think about was helping my family.
Then one day, all of the sudden, my job was terminated. They said they didn’t have any more orders. I was forced to return home (without any savings) very sad and disappointed. I had worked at that factory for four months.
A little while after that I heard that the factory my friend worked at was accepting new employees. So right away I went to apply for work there again. But I wasn’t accepted for a second time with the reason that I still didn’t have my identification card (KTP) for my new place of residence. I quickly got the new card made and reapplied again. I prayed to God the highest that I would soon be accepted for work somewhere. I didn’t ever tire in my search for employment, nor give up hope because I knew that that was part of the struggle in life. Through being close to God and with the help of my parents’ prayers I finally was accepted to work at the factory on the 19th of February 2000, after applying to the company 9 times.
I was placed in the Embroidery Checking department, second shift. I start work at 2pm and end at 10pm. Even though I worked different shifts than my roommates, I would always accompany them to work (at 6:40 am) and they would always come meet me after work and walk me home. Most of the time I don’t feel the tiresomeness of this routine even though every day we have to reach a target of 5000 hats per line. In my department each line only consists of eight people. I am so grateful to finally have work I don’t notice how tired I am. But if we don’t meet the target we are not allowed to go home until we meet it, and sometimes we are punished in other ways such as being forced to clean the factory.
Many times I’ve seen my co-workers and friends get yelled at and punished by the Korean management for no apparent reason, such as for rolling up their pant legs while working because they are hot, the Koreans say, rolling up one’s pants is impolite. For doing this my friends have also been immediately given a “reminder letter”. [If workers get three reminder letters they are fired.] Another time a friend of mine was given a warning letter because she hadn’t come to work one day, and she was asked to write down her reason of absence. While she was writing the supervisor grabbed the ballpoint pen and started slapping her with it until she cried. The Koreans also like to throw the fabric around and step on it when they aren’t satisfied with someone’s work and then leave the mess for the person to clean up. It’s this kind of obscene behavior and the violations of Indonesian laws that made all of the employees very angry and drove us to the point of striking. We struck on July 11th for a total of 7 days. [For story of the strike please see above].
~End~
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