Working conditions at Tuntex Factory, Jakarta

Statement of Rainy Hutabarat, "Urban Community Mission" , Jakarta, at the European Parliament Hearing 22 November 2000 Brussels

1. Introduction

My name is Rainy Hutabarat: I am a researcher at the "Urban Community Mission" (UCM) in Jakarta. The UCM maintains close links with workers in many garment and sportsshoe factories around Jakarta, many of which are supplier factories for Nike, adidas, C&A, Otto etc. The UCM runs education programmes for these workers, and also undertakes research on their labour conditions for NGOs and unions in the USA, Europe etc. For example, from January to April 1999, the South Wind Institute in Germany cooperated with us in a research project on labour conditions in six supplier factories of adidas, C&A, Otto and Quelle around Jakarta. Our study was finalized in November 1999 and published in German in a book of the South Wind Institute and the German Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) in May 2000. One of the six factories was the Tuntex factory in Cakung, an "Export Processing Zone" in the East of Jakarta. Tuntex is a supplier of adidas. Its owner is Taiwanese. There are 1,700 workers at Tuntex, most of them women, who produce garment for Nike, Adidas, The GAP etc.

I shall describe to you the working conditions at Tuntex, not only at the time of the research in January - April 1999, but also from more recent investigations in September 2000 and November 2000.

2. Tuntex January - April 1999

In our research, based on interviews with 5-10 workers and with managers of the companies, at Tuntex there was

- forced overtime - extraordinarily high financial sanctions for production mistakes - wages below the legal minimum wage - overtime pay below the legal requirement - 64-70 hours of work in a week, instead of the legally prescribed maximum of 54 hours per week - ill treatment of workers like slaps on the buttock, throwing jackets, pulling ears, and verbal insults.

Our study was communicated to adidas in February 2000. We understand that adidas, in a statement dated 8 March 2000 commenting on the study, confirmed most of our findings. Adidas, however, rejected two points: it said it is not aware of the above-mentioned financial sanctions, and that Tuntex has met the legal minimum wage requirement. Nevertheless, according to our research this is not true.

3. Tuntex September 2000

In a meeting with eight workers from Tuntex on 24 September, we learned that, apart from small changes, there was still

- forced overtime - overtime pay below the legal requirement (Rp.1653 for all overtime hours instead of the legally prescribed Rp.2357 for the first overtime hour, and Rp.3142 from the second overtime hour onwards) - excessive overtime hours per week: a pay slip of one worker indicated that in August 2000 she had worked 50.5 overtime hours in one week, and 101 overtime hours in two weeks - workers who came five minutes late were fined Rp.30 000 - this is more than the wage of two days.

As compared to our research dated January - April 1999, the normal wages without overtime, but including extra allowances for transport and menstruation, were raised above the legal minimum wage level. The minimum wage, however, even the Indonesian government admits, does not cover the needs of the workers. According to UCM calculations, the legal minimum wage should at least be doubled in order to become a living wage.

4. Tuntex November 2000

Two weeks ago we again met nine workers from Tuntex. This time they reported about further small changes but not yet fundamental ones:

- Although the wages are according to the legal minimum wage level, and although the workers are no longer forced by management to work overtime, the miserable living conditions make the workers want to do overtime - The number of overtime hours per week is between 25-30 hours, sometimes more, and usually includes two Sundays which represents a two-fold breach of Indonesian law (the legal maximum of overtime hours per week is 54 hours, and there should be at least one day off per week - The overtime pay of Rp.2000 for all overtime hours is below the legal requirement (this would be Rp.2838 for the first overtime hour and Rp.3784 from the second overtime hour onwards) - Medical treatment is a big problem for workers. On average, workers suffer injuries twice a week when needles pierce their fingers. This medical treatment costs Rp.100,000, out of which the workers have to pay Rp.90,000, the equivalent of six days worth of wages. -

5. Conclusion

What is our conclusion from these data and from our experiences of close links to garment and sportsshoe workers?

• Companies like adidas have developed codes of conduct, but the concrete social impact for the workers could hardly be felt up to now. Since February 2000, when adidas first got our study, no meaningful change has occured at Tuntex.
• The minimum wage should be replaced by a living wage, so that workers are no longer de-facto forced to work overtime.
• The workers at Tuntex and other supplier factories of adidas should be educated in the adidas code of conduct, and involved in the monitoring, not in an isolated form, but on an institutionalized basis, in close cooperation with NGOs and unions in the North like the CCC.
• The workers in Indonesia must be able to exercise their right to full freedom of associaton.

Rainy Hutabarat Encl.: Summary of UCM study November 1999