Freedom of association largely flouted: Union

Freedom of association largely flouted: Union

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Freedom of association is not being upheld in many workplaces
here in spite of the seven-year reform movement, a labor union
has reported ahead of International Human Rights Day.

The Confederation of Indonesian Prosperity Labor Union (KSBSI)
said in a report launched on Friday that it had recorded at least
45 companies in 12 provinces that violated freedom of
association, leading to the arrest of two labor activists and the
dismissal of more than 1,400 workers over the past year.

Juanda, an executive of the KSBSI, said these offending
companies had used various irrational reasons and taken numerous
measures -- either persuasive or repressive -- to prevent the
presence of more than one labor union in their respective
companies.

"Two KSBSI activists in North Sumatra and East Kalimantan,
respectively, were sent to jail on theft charges after they led
demonstrations to demand the acceptance of a KSBSI unit in their
own company," he told a seminar held to launch the report.

The KSBSI said that a local unit of U.S. giant gold and copper
mining company PT Freeport was an offender as it had rejected the
establishment of a KSBSI unit at the company's large mining
operation in Timika, Papua.

Entering the reform era in 1998 following the fall of
Soeharto, Indonesia amended the 1945 Constitution to adopt a true
democracy and human rights principles. It has also ratified ILO
Convention No. 87 on the freedom of association to allow workers
to unionize, and introduced Law No. 20/2000 on the freedom of
association.

During the Soeharto era, the regime only acknowledged one
government-backed labor union called the SPSI, banning other
unions to represent workers.

But now, at least 68 unions have already registered with the
Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration, although a larger number
of the country's nearly 100 million workers have not unionized
yet.

KSBSI chairman Rekson Silaban said the organization had
several times filed reports on violations of the freedom of
association to the relevant authorities but no serious action had
been taken.

"The freedom of association is part of universal human rights
and it is quite strange that violations continue to occur amid
the reform era," he said.

Yunus "John" Howay, deputy secretary of the local branch of
the KSBSI in Timika, Papua, said Freeport's management had
rejected calls to acknowledge the presence of a KSBSI unit in the
company and workers had been barred from joining the labor union.

"A unit of KBSI has been established by dozens of workers, but
the management has refused to recognize it," he said, citing that
the management had only recognized the existing Confederation of
All-Indonesian Workers Union (KSPSI).

John said his office had sent two letters to the management to
recognize the KSBSI, but no response had been forthcoming.

"In a meeting organized by the KSPSI in September, 2005, the
management stressed that PT Freeport Indonesia accepted only one
union representing workers in bipartite and tripartite
negotiations with the management," he said

Meanwhile, spokesman for Freeport Siddharta Moersjid denied
the accusation, saying the management and its partner companies
had never barred their workers from setting up their own unions.

"PT Freeport complies with the law and has never prohibited
the presence of labor unions other than the KSPSI. The problem
lies in the fact that no workers want to join other unions," he
said, adding that the management would not have any objections to
workers joining the KSBSI or other unions.