(This is a translation of a report prepared by Julianto, himself
a former employee of the Nikomas factory, who now works as a union
organiser in Serang in West Java.)
On Sunday, 4 November 2001, I interviewed a Nikomas worker.
The interview took place at the worker's residence. She agreed
for her story to be reported but only allowed me to put a false
name on the report. She explained that using her full name might
put her into danger when the report reaches her factory management.
Leily started working at Nikomas from July 1997 right after
she graduated from high school. The job was suggested to her by
a friend who worked there. She was at first very happy that she
could find a job easily and hoped that she could help her parents.
But her wages were so low that she could hardly afford to support
herself. She had to live in the factory dormitory so she could
send some money to her parents at Central Java and help them pay
for her two sisters to go to school. The dormitory was very uncomfortable,
she shared a three by six meter room with 11 other workers. The
toilet was placed 80 meters from her room, and they had to queue
up to use it.
At the work place, the situation wasn't any better. Her team
leader and supervisor were very rude to every worker. Her supervisor
yelled at them and cursed them all the time, calling them "monkey",
"pig", "stupid" or "dumb." Leily presumed that this rudeness was
caused by the pressure from the management to reach high production
targets. Leily and her friends couldn't always achieve the target.
On two occasions in 1998 this resulted in her supervisor throwing
the outsole of a shoe at her. At the end of 1998, for the same
reason Leily and 2 other workers in the Sewing Department were
punished by being forced to stand in front of their factory line
for the whole day. The next morning, they had to wash the factory
floor before being permitted to work again. Leily felt humiliated
by this treatment.
In the end of year 1999 to the beginning of year 2000, Leily
was threatened with being fired because she attended a workers'
meeting and refused to speak about it. She was harassed by factory
officials and a security guard broke into her locker at the dormitory
to search for her notes from the meeting. From that day on, she
never attended another worker's meeting because she was afraid
of being fired.
In October 1999, Leily married a co-worker at Nikomas, and she
moved from the dormitory to a small house with one bedroom which
they rent for Rp 150.000 ($US14.50)/month. They have a child who
lives with Leily's parents in Central Java. Leily and her husband
have to work a lot of overtime just to cover their living costs
and so she can't afford to stop working to take care of her child.
She estimates they each need Rp 800.000 a month to meet their
basic needs, but Leily's full time wage is only Rp 438.000 per
month and her husband's is Rp 441.000 per month. They work a lot
of overtime so that they are able to send some money to Leily's
parents for their child every month. It is expensive to travel
to Central Java and so they can only afford for either Leily or
her husband to visit their child once every four months. Leily
strongly believes that there should be a childcare centre at the
factory.
In October 2000, a friend of Leily was very sick, but the supervisor
forced her to keep on working. Not until she fainted did the supervisor
call an ambulance and take her to the clinic. Leily has also seen
many kind of violence against workers, but she has kept silent
because she doesn't want to lose her job. She's unhappy with her
working conditions but she feels stronger with friends around
who have shared the same experience.
These days there have been improvements in the way supervisors
treat them, which is good. But the difficulties which workers
face take many forms. Leily is never allowed to take menstrual
leave, and has been unable to take the twelve days of annual leave
to which she is supposed to be entitled because her supervisor
won't allow it. This happens to most of the workers.
She hopes that working conditions in her factory will improve.
Through this interview, Leily hopes that :
- PT. Nikomas Gemilang stops all kind of violence against workers,
and punishes the supervisors who break the rules.
- Nike and Adidas raise the wages at the factory.
- Nike and Adidas provide a dormitory for married workers.
- Nike and Adidas provide a childcare centre and a transport
allowance.
- Nike and Adidas allow workers to have their own organisation.
Next: Working
Hours
