Ministry unaware of an Indonesian at U.S. rally

Ministry unaware of an Indonesian at U.S. rally

JAKARTA (JP): A high-ranking manpower official expressed
surprise over the involvement of a local worker at a rally in
which demands for better pay and conditions for a U.S.-based
company's Indonesian workers were voiced.

"I just heard about it. I don't know anything and I can't give
any comments," said Payaman J. Simanjuntak, an expert staff
advisor to Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief.

He was asked to comment yesterday about the involvement of
shoe factory worker Cicih Sukaesih in a rally staged by human
rights and labor advocates which demanded that Nike Inc. sporting
goods company improve pay and conditions for its contract workers
in Indonesia.

Cicih left for the United States on Saturday. She will stay
for two weeks, reportedly in order to settle the claims of her
and other workers who have been fired by her company, which was
under contract with Nike.

She was also involved in the rally, which is planned to
continue for a week, against the well-renowned sportswear
producer. Her lawyer, Apong Herlina of the Indonesian Legal Aid
Institute in Jakarta, confirmed her trip and her involvement in
the cause.

"Nike Inc. should know about the true condition of its
Indonesian contract workers," Apong told The Jakarta Post. "It's
a very well-known profit-churning company, but maybe it doesn't
know that its Indonesian contract workers are not appropriately
paid and treated."

"Labor and human rights advocates here have been trying to
approach companies under contract with Nike to improve workers'
pay and conditions," she said. "The rallies and other efforts
abroad are expected to facilitate our campaign here."

Most of Nike's contractors in Indonesia are owned by Koreans.

Reuter reported from Washington yesterday that human rights
and labor advocates demanded that Nike Inc. improve pay and
conditions for its contract workers in Indonesia. Their rally
outside a sports shoe store here on Monday marked the beginning
of a week of protests against the sporting goods company.

"We will use this occasion to launch a national campaign to
get Nike to agree to our independent monitoring of its Indonesian
factories, to settle claims by workers who have been unfairly
dismissed and to improve wages and working conditions," said
Medea Benjamin, co-director of an advocacy group called Global
Exchange.

In an effort to keep the spotlight on Nike, Global Exchange
and another group, Press for Change, hoped to meet this week in
Chicago with basketball superstar and Nike promoter Michael
Jordan and with Nike officials at the company's headquarters in
Beaverton, Oregon.

"Cicih is involved in the advocacy," Apong said. "Along with
the advocacy groups, she will also meet with Michael Jordan," she
said.

Company spokeswoman Donna Gibbs said Nike contract employees
on average make double the minimum wage, and none make below the
legal minimum.

She said Nike believed that the protest was organized by U.S.
labor groups angry about jobs going overseas, and that they were
using the Indonesian worker issue as a premise for their protest.

Benjamin and Jeff Ballinger of Press for Change said Nike
contractors in Indonesia do not pay workers a living wage, force
them to work overtime and in some cases, pay a subminimum
"training" wage.

They said Nike's supervision of its Indonesian contractors has
been lax, and that it should agree to have monitors at the plants
who would make their findings public.

Gibbs said some situations dating back to 1992 have been
corrected, and contended that the company already has an
independent monitor which discloses its findings of contractor
operations.

An Indonesian legislator, Sunardjo of the House Commission VI
for labor affairs, has already welcomed the involvement of Cicih
in the rally abroad. A leader of the All-Indonesia Workers Union
Federation, Suraji Idris, however, wet-blanketed the move, saying
that Indonesian workers should settle problems at home.

Cicih used to earn US$1 a day in the factory. In 1991, the
officially-set minimum wage was raised to US$1.25, but the
factory refused to pay it. Some 600 workers went on strike but
were made to return to work by the company, helped by the
military and police.

In 1992, Cicih and 23 others who had led the strike for better
wages were fired. The International Herald Tribune reported on
Saturday that the factory, which has since been taken over by a
different operator and whose name has been changed to Eltri (also
under contract to Nike), has increased the wages, but Cicih and
her colleagues have not been rehired. (31/swe)