Union vows to take Adidas' case to ILO

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)