Union blasts fleeing footwear companies
Union blasts fleeing footwear companies
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Like loggers who exploit resources, lay waste to and area an
then move on, many footwear companies, who for the past fifteen
years, have sourced their goods in the low-wage haven of
Soeharto's Indonesia, are now fleeing the country in search of a
cheaper and more compliant workforce, according to a global union
representing workers in the sector.
Neil Kearney, secretary general of the Brussels-based
International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation
(ITGLWF), said as democratic unions began to emerge in Indonesia
and demanded improvements in wages and working conditions,
sporting goods retailers and merchandisers began to move to
countries like Vietnam, with lower wages and higher productivity.
"As soon as workers start demanding their rights, the jobs
disappear as quickly as they came," the union leader said in a
press statement issued on Thursday.
Kearney alleged that despite their claims that by sourcing
their goods in Indonesia they were providing jobs, generating
export sales and helping to develop skills, these companies have
in reality made virtually no contribution to local economic
development.
"The profit fallout occurs abroad and all that remains in
Indonesia are the wages paid to the workers. In reality, those
wages amount to less than the cost of servicing the loans
Indonesia took to build the Export Processing Zones and to
provide the infrastructure necessary to attract foreign
investment in the first place," he said.
"With managerial and often supervisory positions held by the
mainly Taiwanese or Korean employers who run the plants, the
skills acquired by (local) workers are minimal," Kearney
speculated.
"So in effect, the only legacy created by these companies is a
legacy of ill health, which will last long after they have moved
on.
"Other developing countries should learn from Indonesia, lest
they suffer the same fate," concluded Kearney.
According to data from the association, some 100 shoe makers
have ceased their operations during the past three years.
Some 40 percent of Indonesia's footwear exports go to the U.S.
market and another 33 percent to Europe, with the remainder
exported to African, Middle Eastern and South American countries.