2016 ITUC Global Rights Index - Indonesia

Assaulted and injured workers have to face legal action: Twenty-three workers – including the general secretary of the Confederation of Indonesian Trade Unions (KSPI) Muhammad Rusdi, a student and two Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) officials – have been named suspects in relation to the 30 October 2015 demonstration. This collective action took place against Government Regulation Number 78/2015 on wages and ended up with police attacking workers. Despite being the ones assaulted and injured, the demonstrators are now qualified as provocateurs by the Metro Jaya regional police and for such reason are facing criminal charge under Article 216 of the Criminal Code (KUHP) for allegedly disobeying police orders during the rally. This raises big questions about why the workers, who were the ones that suffered aggression, having their command vehicle damaged and fired on with tear gas and then being injured and arrested, are the ones named suspects while no action has been taken against the police who committed the assaults. LBH Jakarta public defender Maruli Tua believes that the naming of the activists is a form of criminalisation by police adding itself to the long list of earlier cases that befell various leaders of civil society organisations in order to discourage freedom of speech.

American Phillips Seafood Company in Lampung dismisses unfairly and creates fake trade union to obstruct free trade unionism: US-based company Phillips Seafood – with a chain of seafood restaurants on the East Coast, outlets in airports and casinos and which markets processed seafood products – has its largest centre of production in Lampung, Indonesia. During 2015 the Company showed anti-union behaviour on more than an occasion: 205 workers were fired with a text message in order to outsource most of the jobs to isolated private homes working for half the price of regular workers. Out of the 205 fired workers, only 50 were allowed to come back – as casual workers contracted on a daily basis – on condition that they were not trade union members.

In order to further discourage and impede trade unionism inside the enterprise, Phillips Seafood created a fake union and then threatened and harassed workers to join it if they wanted to be called to work. Phillips Seafood then conducted a "union vote", instructing workers to choose between the real union and the newly created management union. Two local labour department officers were brought in to make the proceedings look official. Deliberately misleading workers into believing the verification was legitimate, while making threats about job security, management forced workers to vote on November 25 and 26. A final vote was planned for December 16 and 17, but with the support of the Federation of Lampung Workers' Unions (FSBL), workers refused to vote. The provincial labour department confirmed that the verification was unlawful because a private company cannot conduct a union vote without oversight. The role of the two labour department officials, and that of Phillips Seafood in the arrangement, is now under investigation.

Harassment and intimidation of union leaders: Further to the 30 October arrests during the minimum wage protests, several trade union leaders found themselves the target of harassment and intimidation. Muhamad Rusdi, General Secretary of the Indonesian trade union confederation Konfederasi Serikat Pekerja Indonesia (KSPI), was summonsed for questioning. Shortly after the demonstrations, the branch office of KPBI (Komite Politik Buruh Indonesia) in North Jakarta was occupied by police, the central KSPI Office and all branch offices of the metalworkers' federation Federasi Serikat Pekerja Metal Indonesia (FSPMI) were guarded by police and other authorities, and a trade unionist in East Java was beaten by police. Several union leaders also reported that their private cars had been damaged.

Violence and arrests at minimum wage demonstration: When three national trade union centres – the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (Konfederasi Serikat Pekerja Indonesia – KSPI), the Confederation of All Indonesian Workers' Unions (Konfederasi Serikat Pekerja Seluruh Indonesia – KSPSI) and the Confederation of Indonesia Prosperity Trade Unions (Konfederasi Serikat Buruh Sejahtera Indonesia KSBSI) – organised a second round of peaceful demonstrations against the minimum wage reforms from 24 to 27 November; the demonstrations were declared illegal by the government. The Ministry of Labour, employers and the police threatened sanctions and penalties.

When the demonstrations went ahead, the police used tear gas and water cannons against the demonstrators. A number of trade union activists were detained but later released by the police.