 Labour
rights violations at PT. Tuntex, Indonesian garment supplier
of adidas-Salomon 1999-2002
Chronology of a case study
Since 1999 the "Urban Community Mission" (UCM) in
Jakarta and the SÜDWIND Institut für Ökonomie
und Ökumene in Siegburg have carried out research on labour
conditions at the factory PT. Tuntex/Jakarta. Tuntex is a garment
supplier of adidas-Salomon. SÜDWIND and the German Clean
Clothes Campaign (CCC) have brought labour rights violations
in this factory to the attention of adidas since the beginning
of 2000. Although some progress was made, there are continuing
violations of Indonesian labour laws, ILO Conventions and provisions
of the adidas code of conduct at PT. Tuntex until today.
1. UCM Research 1999 / 2000
Results of the first UCM research in 1999 / 2000 were part
of a book published by SÜDWIND and the German CCC in May
2000 under the title "The knot in the thread - Indonesian
garment production for German fashion transnational corporations"
(SÜDWIND texte 11). On page 75-77 the following labour
rights violations are mentioned at Tuntex.
-
forced overtime
-
extraordinarily high financial sanctions
for being late and for production mistakes
-
obstructions of the legal menstruation leave
-
repression of union activities
-
wages below the legal minimum wage
-
exceeding the legal maximum number of working
hours per week
-
ill treatment of workers
-
violations of occupational health and safety
rules.
In a letter dated 8th March 2000 adidas had confirmed most
of these violations and promised to initiate corrective action.
2. Follow-up research UCM and SÜDWIND September 2000
Follow-up research on labour conditions at PT. Tuntex by UCM
and SÜDWIND in September 2000 showed that there continued
to be the following violations:
-
forced overtime
-
overtime pay below the legal requirement
-
exceeding the legal maximum number of working
hours per week: a pay slip of one worker indicated that in
one week she had worked 50,5 overtime hours
-
next to the normal amount of 40 hours
-
extraordinarily high sanctions for coming
late
3. Hearing of the European Parliament on 22nd November
2000 in Brussels
On 22nd November 2000 the "Committee on Development and
Cooperation" of the European Parliament organised a Hearing
on labour conditions at supplier factories of adidas and Nestle.
This Hearing took place in the wake of the resolution on code
of conduct of the European Parliament dated 13th January 1999.
The UCM representative Ms.Rainy Hutabarat was invited to this
Hearing. She gave a report on continued labour rights violations
at the adidas supplier factory PT. Tuntex, such as
-
the legal minimum wage paid to the workers
does not meet the criteria of the respective ILO Convention
which calls for a living wage
-
exceeding the legal maximum number of working
hours per week
-
overtime pay below the legal requirement
-
occupational health and safety rules were
violated.
Adidas did not accept the invitation of the European Parliament
to participate in the Hearing.
4. UCM Follow-up research August 2001
Interviews with workers during follow-up research by UCM of
August 2001 showed that the following labour rights violations
continued:
-
forced overtime
-
exceeding the legal maximum number of working
hours per week
-
some workers were paid less than the legal
minimum wage, and others received wages which did not meet
the criteria of the ILO Convention.
5. SÜDWIND Follow-up research February 2002
SÜDWIND follow-up research in February 2002 showed the
following continued violations:
The conclusion which SÜDWIND draws from the negligence
of comprehensive improvements at PT.Tuntex is the following:
a) it is not sufficient to integrate workers into the internal
company monitoring in isolated cases, and b) only an independent
monitoring institution in which the workers are represented,
can guarantee sustained progress.
Ingeborg Wick
Siegburg, 24th April 2002
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