Nike company denies bad labor conditions
SERPONG, Tangerang (JP): PT Pratama Abadi Industri, a subcontracting firm producing world-renowned Nike sportswear, has denied abusing workers, saying the company's labor conditions were much better than the Indonesian government required.
Company president, Seo Yeong Yul said the company's management had complied with the Indonesian labor laws and met all the requirements of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between U.S.-based Nike Inc. and his management since the company started in 1991.
"We employ more than 7,000 workers, not one of them is a child. The workers get an average of Rp 315,000 (US$133) in monthly wages, which is higher than the government-set minimum wages," he said while accompanying Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief on his visit to the plant Tuesday.
Workers who have been employed for three years or more get their wages upgraded twice a year. "This was ruled in the collective labor agreement signed by the management and the workers' representatives," he said.
The current monthly minimum wage for workers in Greater Jakarta is Rp 156,000. The Minister of Manpower has just announced an increase of the amount by 10.07 percent to Rp 172,500 as of April 1.
Since 1991, Oregon-based Nike Inc. has been under fire with U.S. labor advocacy groups accusing it of employing children through its subcontractors in Asia, including Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia. American NGOs persuaded basketball star and Nike spokesman Michael Jordan to intercede with the company.
Last July, Cici Sukaesih, a former worker of PT Sang Hwa Dunia in Serang, West Java, told Nike Inc. in Oregon about the unfair dismissal of herself and her fellow workers, and demanded the sportswear giant to press the South Korean contractor to rehire them and improve labor conditions in the plant.
Seo said Tuesday the child labor and underpayment issues were exposed by other-brand footwear manufacturers due to the fierce competition in the sector while, in the United States, the issues were aired in protests organized by labor advocacy groups.
Seo, who speaks Indonesian fluently and is applying for Indonesian citizenship, said the factory was built under strict agreement between the company and Nike Inc. and the company has been inspected once every three months by Nike Inc.
The agreement, included in the MOU signed by the management and Nike Inc. clearly prohibits child labor and forced workers. It also pledges compliance with applicable government regulations regarding minimum wages and overtime payment.
Meanwhile, PT Pratama Abadi Industri personnel manager Danny M. Ginting Suka, said the 7,000 workers employed in the company were between 20 and 24 years old. They have been registered in the government-run social security program (Jamsostek).
"Every month, we pay the state-owned PT Jamsostek over Rp 48 million, the workers' dues for the social security program," he said.
He said the company had also developed a health and occupational safety program to prevent workers from occupational accidents in their work places. "Despite using accident-prone machinery, no occupational accidents have happened in the plant," he said.
Marzuli, chairman of the Federation of All Indonesian Workers Union (FSPSI) unit in the plant, hailed the management's program to develop corporate culture and industrial relations in the company.
He said the management and the FSPSI unit were committed to settling any labor disputes at the negotiating tables and, under this mechanism, the two sides have renewed the collective labor agreement once in two years.
"New employees are paid around Rp 250,000 and those employed for over two years receive over Rp 300,000 per month. Most workers get more because they work overtime and that is paid at Rp 2,000 per hour," he said. (rms)