PT Johnson accused of antiunion bias

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Workers of multinational fragrance company PT S.C. Johnson & Son (SCJ) protested on Wednesday against the company's alleged moves to dismiss or transfer employee activists who are involved in organizing an independent union in the company.

Rusman Efendi, secretary of the independent union, told The Jakarta Post that he was one of a number of labor activists who were either dismissed from the company or transferred to new divisions because of their involvement in the Chemical, Energy and Mine Workers Union.

"Before I was officially dismissed on April 22, I had been sent to a new division where I was exposed to hard physical work on the assembly line," he said.

He said that his employment status was now in limbo after he refused to sign a letter of resignation.

"A number of my colleagues have also been transferred to new posts outside Jakarta so that they can no longer work for the union," he said.

Rusman also said that the union activists were also being discriminated against in other ways.

"Management provides easy access to loans for those who don't join our independent union," he said.

As a result of the discrimination against union activists, there were now fewer employees who were willing to join the union, Rusman said.

"Only half of the members are still with the union now," he said, adding that the other employees had since joined a company- backed labor union.

Separately, a staff member from the SJC human resources division, Megawati, told the Post that there was no way the company could discriminate against the union activists.

"Rusman was dismissed because he slandered the company. And those who were transferred to other posts were dealt with in accordance with the proper procedures," she said.

She was quick to add that an agreement had to be made before an employee could be transferred to another post.

There are about 200 people working for the company.