Nike Factory In Indonesia Hired Military To Pressure Workers Into Less Pay: Reports
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U.S. sporting goods giant Nike on Tuesday said that it would be launching an immediate investigation into its manufacturers in Indonesia, reported AFP, after reports emerged that Nike-contracted factories had hired military officers to intimidate workers into waiving their rights to the country’s newly enforced minimum wage.
U.S. sporting goods giant Nike on Tuesday said that it would be launching an immediate investigation into its manufacturers in Indonesia, reported AFP, after reports emerged that Nike-contracted factories had hired military officers to intimidate workers into waiving their rights to the country’s newly enforced minimum wage.
According to a report by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, at least six known factories had resisted implementing the new minimum wage; while one particular factory in the city of Sukabumi, 80km south of Jakarta, had gotten high-ranking members of the Indonesian military to pressure workers into signing a petition supporting the factory’s claim to be exempt from paying the new wage.
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A woman, who shot mobile phone footage of the incident seen by ABC, said that she and her fellow workers had tried to reject the pay restriction, but got scared after hearing of military involvement.
“We got summoned by military personnel that the company hired to interrogate us and they intimidated us.”
[quote]”The first thing that scared me was his high tone of voice and he banged the table… And also he said that inside the factory there were a lot of military intelligence officers. That scared me,” she said.[/quote]Jim Keady, head of the US-based NGO Education for Justice (EFJ), told the Jakarta Globe that some factories had also engaged in fraud to secure an exemption from paying the new minimum wage. Nike’s Pratama plant for instance allegedly deceived 18 trade unionists into signing an agreement waiving workers’ right to increased pay.
“The unionists were invited to lunch [on Dec. 20] and when they arrived they were asked to sign what they believed was a sign-in sheet for the luncheon,” Keady said. But according to the unionists, the sign-in sheet was then “fraudulently attached to a document that stated the signatories agree to the factory management’s requests to be exempt from the new minimum wage.”
This action was caught on video and shown to Keady, who said: “There didn’t seem to be in any of the video footage I saw an explanation to the workers of implications to what they were signing.”
Following massive protests late last year, Jakarta workers won a 44 percent minimum wage rise to 2.2 million rupiah ($228) a month, which came into effect on January 1. Other provincial governments have also followed suit, albeit at different rates, but the new minimum wage would have provided factory employees at the Sukabumi plant roughly $4 a day, compared to the current $3.70.
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The Jakarta Globe reported that the Sukabumi plant received exemption from the provincial wage council last Sunday, as a result of the salary agreement signed by more than 500 workers.
Nike defended itself against the charges and said that it would investigate the claims “seriously.”
[quote]”The Nike Code of Conduct is very clear,” said Global corporate communications director Greg Rossiter to AFP. “Nike expects contract factory workers to be ‘paid at least the minimum wage required by country law and provided legally mandated benefits, including holidays and leaves, and statutory severance when employment ends.'”[/quote]This however is not the first case of worker mistreatment in Indonesian Nike factories. Last year, The Guardian reported that a Nike factory in Serang had failed to pay its workers for 600,000 hours of overtime work over two years; while Indonesian factory workers remain some of the lowest-paid in Asia, often earning less than workers in China or India, despite being the third-largest producer of Nike footwear and apparel.
Watch Documentary on Nike Sweatshops in Indonesia:
