Labor union honors Marsinah

Labor union honors Marsinah

JAKARTA (JP): The All-Indonesia Workers Union (SPSI) has
declared May 9 a national day opposing violence against workers
in honor of Marsinah, the murdered labor activist.

"Beginning this year, May 9 will be marked as a day of anti-
violence. We will use this day each year to renew our campaign
for the fundamental rights of workers," union chairman Imam
Sudarwo said during a short ceremony at the union's headquarters
in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Marsinah's badly mutilated body was found in an abandoned
shack in Nganjuk near Sidoarjo in East Java on May 9, 1993, only
a few days after she led a workers strike at the watchmaking
company where she was working.

Her death has become a rallying point for labor unions and
human rights organizations to press the government and employers
for better treatment of workers.

"All workers should honor Marsinah and her services to the
workers' cause on May 9. They should also campaign for the
elimination of violence and exploitation of workers," Imam said.

The union earlier conferred the title of "workers' heroine" on
the deceased Marsinah.

Marsinah also won, posthumously, the Yap Thiam Hien human
rights award given by the Foundation for the Center for Human
Rights Studies in December 1993. (rms)