Union vows to take Adidas' case to ILO

JAKARTA (JP): The Federation of Independent Trade Unions (GSBI) condemned on Thursday the arrest and trial of a labor activist and vowed to take the case to an International Labor Organization (ILO) session in Geneva in June.

Ngadinah, 29, a worker of PT Panarub, which holds a manufacturing license from Adidas, is being tried at Tangerang District Court on charges of inciting people to resist public authority and unpleasant treatment toward people. The latter charge relates to Ngadinah's relationship with company management.

"Ngadinah is a representative of worker activists throughout Indonesia who struggle for workers' rights," GSBI chairman Bandung Eko Saputro said.

He compared Ngadinah with Marsinah, a labor activist in East Java who was found dead on May 8, 1993, three days after staging a demonstration demanding welfare improvements for workers.

Bandung said GSBI was also seeking the support of international labor unions in taking Ngadinah' case to the ILO session.

He said GSBI also urged the government to immediately establish and assign a special team to investigate violations against workers' freedom of association.

He said that such violations had occurred, not only at PT Panarub, but also in several other companies, including PT Sandrafine Garments in Tangerang and at PT Citra Abadi Sejati in Cileungsi, Bogor.

GSBI also appealed for Adidas to respond to Ngadinah's case and order all companies which hold its licenses to comply with Adidas's code of conduct.

Bandung stressed that GSBI vows to petition for a boycott of Adidas products should the company fail to comply with the demand.

Ngadinah, who is a general secretary of the shoe factory's trade union, has been detained at the Tangerang women's penitentiary since April 23.

She was arrested following a complaint by PT Panarub executive Slamet Supriyadi, who told police that Ngadinah was the mastermind of massive strikes conducted by 8,000 workers at the company's compound in Tangerang between Sept. 8 and Sept. 11 last year. He claimed the strikes had caused Rp 500 million in losses to the company.

Ngadinah's lawyer, Arist Merdeka Sirait, said the striking workers demanded that PT Panarub abide by the minister of manpower and transmigration's regulation on workers' rights, granting health, family and meal allowances for workers.(01)