Reebok hires advisers to meet workers' needs

By Tertiani Z.B. Simanjuntak

JAKARTA (JP): Worker unrest at large factories is a headache for management and causes productivity to plummet.

To head off such problems and improve awareness of workers' rights, Reebok International, the sports shoe manufacturer based in Boston, the United States, hired a local firm to anticipate potential problems and discover the desires of workers at two of its subcontractors' factories in Bekasi, east of Jakarta.

The 14-month study, which was completed last month, cost US$35,000 and resulted in the two subcontractors -- PT Tong Yang Indonesia and PT Dong Joe Indonesia -- making significant changes at their factories and in their treatment of their approximately 10,000 employees.

The two factories manufacture over 75 percent of the Reebok shoes made in Indonesia.

In its final report, Insan Hitawasana Sejahtera (IHS) said the changes made by the two subcontractors based on its findings and recommendations helped ease unrest at the factories and boost productivity.

The manager of Reebok's Human Rights Program, Jill Tucker, told a group of journalists at the factories last week the IHS final report was aggressively publicized by the shoe company.

"By sharing the report, we hope it can have a positive impact on the entire athletic footwear manufacturing industry in Indonesia," Tucker said.

IHS divided its survey into three stages: interviewing workers and making on-site observations; listing and handing over the results of the interviews and observations, along with its recommendations, to the subcontractors' management; and evaluating the changes made by the subcontractors.

During their survey, the IHS team interviewed at least 500 workers, including managers and labor union officials.

The survey looked at the relationship and communication between workers and management, the treatment of female employees, safety procedures, wages, overtime pay and workers' associations.

The IHS team included safety experts, financial auditors, experts on human rights and an industrial hygienist.

"To make our findings truly independent, our team had full access to factory records and workers without intervention from our client or the factories' management," said team leader Mayling Oey-Gardiner, who is also the executive director of IHS.

Problem

Mayling said the only problem faced by his team was the workers' lack of knowledge of their rights.

"Although they know how to read and write, they hardly understood the meaning of the questions on our questionnaires," she said.

During the journalists' tour of the factories, the changes which had been made based on the IHS recommendations were on full display. The improvements included newly installed incinerators, more comfortable chairs for seated employees and specially designed chairs for pregnant women.

The factories have also provided appropriate protective equipment for workers, including protective glasses, masks, earmuffs and gloves.

Combined with a two-week work rotation, labor union training and sexual harassment awareness classes, the changes have improved working conditions, Mayling said.

Her opinion was echoed by employees at the factories.

A female employee in the assembly division of Tong Yang factory, Cici Sumiati, attested to the significant improvements at the plant.

"Conditions are different now. Workers' health and safety always comes first. The management sanctions workers who don't wear safety equipment," Cici said.

She also said the factory was now using less dangerous chemicals and equipment. "Now we use water-based glue instead of the smelly glue. The old glue made it hard to breath," she said, adding that she hoped the improvements would be maintained.

Heny, a group leader in the cutting division of the same factory, said the company no longer pushed sick workers to reach their production targets for the day.

"It doesn't matter anymore. They can take a rest or sick leave and it will not effect their record," she said. "Their health is more important."

Mayling said IHS would continue to assess conditions in the factories.

"We'll keep on making recommendations and suggestions to the factories and monitor the measures they take."

Tong Yang general manager Fendi Sumarto said both his company and Dong Joe spent $1 million implementing the changes recommended by IHS.

It is hoped that similar measures to improve the welfare of employees, who are a company's partner in business, will be taken by other firms. A healthy relationship between companies and employees will, after all, help improve productivity, which in turn could attract more investors to the country.