Levi Strauss stops contract in garment factory

Levi Strauss stops contract in garment factory

JAKARTA (JP): The San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co. has
decided to stop placing orders with the Jakarta-based PT Duta
Busana Danastri garment factory, which it believes has ignored
guidelines on worker rights.

Senior manager David Samson, in a statement faxed to The
Jakarta Post yesterday, said that his company has a commitment to
ensure that workers are treated respectfully.

Levi Strauss & Co. is the manufacturer of Levi's and Dockers
brand name products.

As a part of this commitment, Levi Strauss & Co. has
traditionally shared with its contractors a set of rules that
outline their expectations, he added.

"We seek to work with contractors who obey local laws, respect
workers rights and provide a safe and healthy work environment,"
Samson says.

However, recent labor troubles at PT Duta Busana Danastri have
shown that the company did not abide by the guidelines, thus
forcing the American company "to take quick action" by
terminating its contract with the Indonesian company.

Yesterday, approximately 80 workers continued their protests
against the management by asking the National Commission on Human
Rights to mediate a three-way meeting between the workers, the
management and the Ministry of Manpower to solve the six-month-
old labor dispute.

The Commission's secretary general, Baharuddin Lopa, stressed
yesterday that the commission will help both the management and
the laborers to settle the conflict today.

"Frankly speaking, it's the affair for the Ministry of
Manpower. We don't want to intervene their business. We just want
to help solve this ongoing conflict," Lopa said.

Both the company's vice-chairwoman, Elliani Sapta Dewi, and
lawyers, Muhammad Thamrin and Mangara Gultom, were not available
for comment.

Earlier this week the laborers appointed nine members of a
non-governmental organization, the Jakarta Social Institute, to
advocate for them during negotiations.

The protesters and four of their legal representatives told
Lopa yesterday that labor would not negotiate with the management
while they were asking the police and military officers to
intervene in the dispute.

"There are many officers and one of them even threatened me,"
delegate Sriyani said, referring to the halted negotiations on
Thursday, when a detective of the Kebayoran Lama police sub-
precinct threatened to take firm measures against the protesters.

Hundreds of workers at the garment factory, which also
produces brand name denim products such as Baxter and Gitano,
have staged strikes and protests since last November demanding
that management improve working conditions.

Management insists that they have always held to the
government's working regulations, including the minimum wage,
work insurance, night shift compensation and health-care
coverage.

The workers, however, have demanded that the management make a
basic managerial adjustments which they believe will
simultaneously improve their working conditions.

In a written statement faxed to the Commission, Elliani Sapta
Dewi blamed the laborers for the deadlock.

Dewi said that the management could not tolerate the presence
of all workers in the meeting. "Three legal consultants of the
workers and 10 labor representatives are enough to attend the
meeting," she said.

The management's recently decided to centralize production at
its factories on Jl. Kemandoran, South Jakarta, and Cibinong,
West Java, and close another one on Jl. Palmerah Barat, South
Jakarta. Both of these moves have triggered fresh protests.

To comply with its policy, the company has asked hundreds of
workers to resign voluntarily and is now forcing around 40
remaining workers to work the night shift at its factory on Jl.
Kemandoran. (09)