Workers strike at Nike plant

Workers strike at Nike plant

On Tuesday this week the town of Tangerang was totally
paralyzed by a strike by some 10,000 workers at the Nike shoe
factory. Worker strikes have occurred with great frequency during
the past few years. In light of this reality, several facts
should gain our attention.

The great number of workers who have been involved in strikes
so far makes us aware of the fact that Indonesia has become a hub
for the manufacture of some of the world's leading brand-name
products. Hundreds of factories turn out products bearing the
brand names of Nike, Reebok, GAP, Marks & Spencer and many
others.

This does indeed benefit Indonesia. For one thing, those
factories provide jobs in great numbers. For another, they help
prepare our workforce for the dawning of an industrial culture --
a culture which we must be prepared to adopt as we enter the era
of globalization.

All this, however, is not necessarily a reason to rejoice. Our
strength in competition with the world market still consists of
cheap labor, which is the primary reason why businesses invest
here, although other factors -- such as our extensive domestic
market and adequate infrastructure -- also play a role.

Having cheap labor to keep production costs down, however, is
prone to change. Sooner or later, the cost of labor will rise and
approach that of industrially advanced countries. When that
happens, those industries will leave our country and find other
countries where relatively cheap labor is still available. This
would have a profound effect, not only on our economy, but also
on our social and political life.

The low cost of our labor is also being used by industrialists
to cut wages even more. Various schemes are devised to suppress
those wages. An example of this is the break down of Regional
Minimum Wages, which companies are legally required to pay their
workers in smaller components, such as basic wages, meal
allowances and premiums.

Because of such schemes, workers get even less than what they
should receive under a fair implementation of Regional Minimum
Wage regulations. The employer, on the other hand, basks in a
false reputation of being a benevolent employer who pays his
workers, not only their basic wages, but also other benefits.

However, such tricky tactics do not always work. The fact is
that the strike at the Nike plant occurred because the workers
felt that they had been tricked by the management.

-- Republika, Jakarta