Jesse Jackson meets with local labor activists

Jesse Jackson meets with local labor activists

JAKARTA (JP): Jesse Jackson, a U.S. front liner in the civil
rights movement, met with local labor activists yesterday to
obtain first-hand information on labor conditions in Indonesia.

Jackson visited the unrecognized Indonesian Prosperous Labor
Union (SBSI) and the only government sanctioned labor union the
Federation of All-Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) headquarters.

"If we share some values we will progress together," he said
in encouragement to some 40 labor activists at the SBSI
headquarters.

"The American people are as close to Indonesia through the
products they purchase," he said.

Jackson also urged the Indonesian government to loosen its
control over workers' rights to form a union lest the government
be condemned for violating human rights.

"Indonesia cannot get favored nation status if the military
interferes with civil rights," Jackson said.

According to Muchtar Pakpahan, the SBSI leader, Jackson's
meeting with the union members happened out of his own initiative
over his concern about labor conditions in Indonesia.

"The international community only recognizes SBSI as a labor
union, partially due to the government's fault in marginalizing
us for our principles," Muchtar told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Muchtar was incarcerated for three years in 1994 after he was
convicted by a lower court of inciting worker riots in Medan,
North Sumatra.

Through appeal, the determined leader was sentenced by the
Medan High Court to four years but was acquitted of all charges
by the Supreme Court in 1995.

Jackson also met with SPSI officials to get a balanced picture
of Indonesian labor issues.

Idris, an SPSI executive, told the Post there are 12 Nike-
affiliated companies in Indonesia that employ some 80,000 workers
and which have fulfilled the government's requirement of paying
workers the minimum wage of Rp 5,200 a day.

Jackson, who arrived here on Friday morning on a fact-finding
mission for the Rainbow Coalition which he founded in an
unsuccessful run for the U.S. presidency, said his visit is
intended to draw attention to the plight of workers who produce
shoes and other labor-intensive products for American consumers.

The luminary arrived from Tokyo, where he campaigned against
alleged sexual harassment by Japanese companies in the United
States.

On Friday, Jackson visited two sports shoe factories west of
Jakarta to investigate charges that workers were underpaid.

P.T. Tong Yang is an Indonesian-South Korean joint venture and
employs 6,200 workers, mostly women, that produces shoes for the
U.S.-based Reebok company.

Jackson, however, was denied a visit at a Nike-affiliated
factory which has been accused of unfair labor practices,
including firing workers who attempted to organize a union.

After a meeting with SPSI, Jackson and his team headed out to
hold a prayer vigil at another Nike-affiliated factory in
Tangerang.

Separately, Jackson said he will demand Washington makes labor
rights a criterion for the granting of Most Favored Nation
trading status.

Speaking on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) meeting here, Jackson said that he will urge U.S.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher, who is scheduled to take
part in the security-oriented ASEAN Regional Forum tomorrow, to
raise the issue of uniform labor standards.

"As Mr. Christopher comes here to engage in his dialog, we
must determine that the basis for favored nation status is the
compatibility of values," the reverend was quoted by AFP as
saying.

Those rights include a commitment to human rights and labor
rights, a concept vehemently opposed by ASEAN, which sees the
proposal as a bid to rob developing nations of their competitive
advantage.

Proponents of such a linkage at the World Trade Organization
say uniform labor standards would prevent advantages gained at
the expense of child and prison laborers, as well as other
exploited workers. (31/14)