Bali's textile industry faces problems

By I Wayan Juniarta

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): In the face of the new millennium and a new free trade era, textile and garment producers on the island of Bali are struggling to improve labor welfare and to solve environmental problems.

To date, there has been no precise data on the number of textile and garment factories operating in Bali.

Data from the province's Ministry of Industry and Trade office registered 83 large-scale textile factories and 29 small-scale textile producers.

There is no adequate information on the number of employees working in the textile industry in Bali. Some small companies like PT Adi Manggala Putra employs less than 10 workers, while bigger firms like CV Mama and Leon absorb around 2,682 workers.

Putu Arnawa, chairman of the Indonesian Textile Association's (API) chapter in Bali said there were many small-scale textile and garment factories which were not registered with the association or the Ministry of Industry and Trade office here.

"They do not export their goods but act only as suppliers to major textile factories," said Arnawa. Currently, API has 90 member companies.

Edy Supryatno, head of the labor division of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation's Bali chapter, said the number of people working in the local textile industry had reached more than 10,000 people.

Textile and garments contributed 45.21 percent of the province's total export revenues of US$375 million in l997.

In l998, when the economic crisis hit the country, Bali's textile industry was badly affected. The sharp increase in the price of raw materials, of between 40 percent to 60 percent, contributed to the drop in textile and garment exports which only reached $152.1 million from the total export revenue of $399.58 million in l998.

Edy maintained that the textile and garment industry was flourishing and a profitable business, yet such an industry was prone to any form of labor exploitation.

Most of the producers employ women and under-age workers.

"Textiles and garments can absorb thousands of workers. They are required to work long hours with little payment," Edy explained.

Citing an example, he said many female workers, some of whom were pregnant, had to work overtime. Many of them worked until midnight because their employers had offered them extra bonuses.

"Most of the workers are paid minimum wages. They are flattered with the extra money if they can finish the job earlier," he said,

The regional minimum wage in Denpasar is set at Rp 186,000 (around $25) per month. The foundation has conducted a survey which revealed these laborers were underpaid.

He said that in order to get an adequate room, one has to pay Rp 150,000. To lead a simple life in Denpasar, a worker must, at least, earn around Rp 450,000 a month.

"It is saddening that some companies pay their workers only Rp 100,000 a month," Edy noted.

These unfortunate workers can do nothing but accept their fates. But, a number of them have conducted a series of strikes to lodge protests against their employers. They demanded higher wages. Between the 1998/l999 period, there were 27 strikes involving labors at textile and garment factories.

IKG Mahendra from the Ministry of Industry and Trade office in Bali did not deny the existence of labor exploitation in these industries.

Arnawa, however, said the association had encouraged its members to continue evaluating the conditions of their workers.

"We have proposed a 15 percent wage increase, but so far the government has not responded," he said.

The industry also faced other serious problems in dealing with environmental issues. The industry has been charged with seriously polluting the environment. Lack of waste treatment plants and the inappropriate handling of environmental management has worsened the image of this industry.

I Gusti Ngurah Winaya, head of Denpasar Environment Office, said that 84 textile and garment companies operating around Denpasar had dumped their waste into the Badung river.

"They complain that building a waste treatment plant is too costly. A modest waste treatment plant would only cost about Rp 2.5 million," Winaya said.

He added that those factories were responsible for polluting Bali's rivers. Many of them carried out dying processes in the rivers, causing serious environmental problems.

Yuyun Ilham, executive director of the Wisnu Foundation, mentioned that many companies had deliberately violated the regulations to reduce production costs.

"Some of them are big textile companies in Bali," he said.

These factories can easily ignore the demands for wage increases or continue to pollute the environment. But one thing is for sure: they cannot disobey international demands for labor and environmentally friendly products in the coming free trade era.