Toward sustainable business

Toward sustainable business

By Adam Yazid

JAKARTA (JP): A textile mill in Tangerang, west of here,
suffered heavy losses a few days prior to the Idul Fitri holidays
last month.

Some 1,000 workers, mostly women, went berserk upon learning
that their holiday allowances fell short of the amount previously
agreed upon.

The workers vandalized the company's buildings and
motor vehicles. This incident was not the first of its kind.

Historically, the process toward industrialization has created
a dilemma from the start. During the 18th century, mainly in
Europe and North America, the Industrial Revolution transformed
an agrarian-traditional society into an industrial one.

The changes did bring benefits but they also caused air and
water pollution and the draining of natural resources.

Of equal concern, beside the industrialization process, are
the connected social problems, like urbanization, contrasting
stratification of the society and employment of women and
underage children.

What is now happening in developing countries, which compete
against each other in order to belong to the New Industrial
Countries, is actually a repeat of the revolution referred to
above.

The concept of the much-proclaimed sustainable development is
still heavily oriented toward economic efficiency, which
emphasizes the prevention of pollution and the conservation of
natural resources.

Economic efficiency is important, but as a prerequisite for
continued development, its approach is inadequate. Socially
sustainable development, comprising of improvement in labor
practices, recognition of the environing community's right of
life as well as other forms of social contracts, cannot be
ignored.

Moreover, concern for the environment occurs together with the
spread of democratization issues and the struggle for human
rights with the inherent factor of social equity.

However, in reality, there is a tendency to play down the
problems and to limit them to aspects of the physiobiological
environment. In general, the socioecological impacts of a project
or industry seldom receive sufficient attention. Even in several
cases of development there were forced removals, physical clashes
and explosive social conflicts.

The regulations in force also tend to comply with physical,
chemical and biological parameters. Consequently, in development,
especially industrialization, clashes often occur resulting from
the imbalances.

The situation is similar when the community files a complaint
on pollution generated by an industry. What becomes the center of
attention is also limited to whether or not the company has
complied with the parameters set.

In an indirect way, the cost for pollution control, which is
an external cost for the company, is also charged to the
community, which is the consumer. The additional investment is
incorporated in the production cost, which results in higher
prices for the consumers.

The community does not receive compensation for environmental
damage generated by industry, but must, additionally, bear the
higher cost of industrial products.

In developing countries, in order to obtain a major economic
reach, it is the current practice for industries to use loose
environmental prerequisites and comparative advantages, like raw
material, natural resources and cheap labor.

The following can serve as an example. Indonesia's structure
of paper production cost belongs to the cheapest category. The
Indonesian producer needs only US$285 to produce one metric ton
of pulp and paper, while Canadian and Scandinavian countries, as
the world's biggest producers of paper with the application of an
efficient production system, require $429 and $485 respectively.

However, the low production cost does not reflect a real
efficiency level but a bias made possible by an ecology subsidy,
in which the environmental damage factor and other related
factors, including wages, do not obtain adequate attention.

Another aspect often ignored is occupational health and
safety. We may accuse an industry of environmental pollution, but
the highest pollution potential is in the environment of the
industry itself.

Each day the workers inhale dust, chemicals and other
hazardous material. They work amid machinery noise,
electromagnetic radiation and high-tension power currents, which
may cause deterioration of their health, including vision and
hearing impairments, prolonged fatigue and stress.

In the long run, they are also exposed to contracting
bronchitis, pneumonia, cancer or chronic poisoning. The more so
because in their work they are not equipped with adequate
protective equipment.

Commemorating the tenth anniversary of the atrocious accident
at Union Carbide in Bhopal, India, Sangeeta Bhargava and Richard
Welford in Sustainable Development Vol. 3, published in 1995,
reveal that the accident originated for the greater part from
corruptive labor practices, as is current fare in developing
countries. Low-level education and technical capacity of the
labor force, caused by the lack of training and occupational
safety, were the main causes of the accident.

Bernardino Ramazzini, considered the father of occupational
health and hygiene, in his book De Morbis Artificium Diatriba
(The Diseases of Workmen), published in 1700, already mentioned a
number of diseases connected with work and suggested a number of
preventive measures.

Tragedies involving labor in the era of the Industrial
Revolution are now being repeated in developing countries. Labor
is still employed at minimum standards, from wages to the factor
of occupational safety. Although the government will enforce next
month a new regional minimum wage, the improvement only moves
from one minimum to another.

Indonesia's labor matters will continue to be tarnished by the
same conflicts and exploitation.