Thousands of workers stage demonstration against Nike

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Some 3,000 workers from PT Doson Indonesia, a company which produces Nike athletic shoes, staged a demonstration on Tuesday in front of the U.S. Embassy to protest plans by the giant shoemaker to terminate its contract with the company next month.

The secretary of the labor union at PT Doson Indonesia, Surono, said the decision by Nike to end the contract would put some 7,000 employees out of work.

"We hope the U.S. diplomats will tell Nike's management to help its local partner resolve problems related to the workers, like providing severance pay for dismissed workers," Surono told The Jakarta Post during the demonstration.

Surono said Nike had no legal obligation to give the workers severance pay, as it had no direct dealings with the laborers but with PT Doson Indonesia.

"But as a multinational corporation which has made large profits from the sweat of workers in the country, Nike has the moral obligation to guarantee the welfare of the laborers," he said.

Representatives of the demonstrators met briefly with the embassy's secretary for political affairs, Mark D. Clark, who told the five representatives to come to the embassy on Wednesday.

The workers, who came from Tangerang in Banten province, also protested in front of the BRI building on Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta, where Nike's central office is located, and in front of Merdeka Palace on Jl. Medan Merdeka Utara.

Nike, the world's number one athletic shoe manufacturer, has 11 factories in Indonesia employing some 50,000 to 60,000 people. They produce between 45 million and 55 million pairs of shoes a year. Only 2 percent of these shoes go to the local market, with most ending up in the United States.

Separately, Jeff DuMont, general manager of Nike Inc. Indonesia, said Nike is preparing to provide continuing medical care for displaced workers, either through PT Doson Indonesia's established factory clinics or via other means.

Nike is also promising to support a micro-loan program for displaced workers who wish to start small businesses. It will also bear the cost of the continuing adult education program for those workers already enrolled in the Nike-sponsored program.

Jeff said Nike expected PT Doson Indonesia to meet its obligations to its workers, as laid out in manpower regulations.

"We understand the concerns of the PT Doson Indonesia workers, and we have emphasized to the management of PT Doson Indonesia our expectation that they meet all their obligations to the employees in the event that layoffs occur."

PT Doson Indonesia has confirmed that it will reduce its workforce after it fills its current orders from Nike.

Nike informed the management of PT Doson Indonesia in February 2002 that it would be discontinuing its orders.