Police have used "brutal force" to end a protest by women workers at the PT Micro Garment factory in Bandung, Indonesia."The Indonesian police sent around 300 personnel to dissolve the action of workers," reports a local YCW leader.
"The police forced the demonstrators to disperse and end the action immediately.
"The number of demonstrators are 186 workers and majority are women and some of them are pregnant. The situation are really bad and (there is) chaos now," the leader explained in an email calling for solidarity.
"The YCW Indonesia president (Ikin) took a decision to pull the workers from the location to avoid more victims," he explained. "Now the police still at the location to watch the situation and ready at anytime to hit the demonstrator at as the order of the employer.
"The employer now in the difficult situation due to bed quality of their production, even though they have change hundred of the workers but the their buyers are not satisfy with the quality of the goods. This week the employer is in Hong Kong to lobby the buyer to extend the shipping time of the order.
"Indonesia YCW is in critical situation now since the polices are really brutal hitting and kicking the workers and the employer making false propaganda using Christianity issue and force the neighbor against the workers," he continued.
"The call of YCW Indonesia is:
- Launch a financial campaign to help the workers of PT Micro Garment and YCW Indonesia
- Send your political pressure to the Indonesian authority (Don't send any letter to the employer)
- For the ILO delegation, please seriously bring this issue to the discussion (held the side event and invite the ILO officer and trade union and Indonesian minister)
- Please talk to Indonesian President (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in ILC). He will give special speech during the ILC since the International community think that Indonesia is the best sample for domestic workers protection program."
VHR Media also reports on the strike saying that 18 female workers fainted as a result of clashes with police.
Chairman of the Joint Labor Struggle Solidarity (GSPB) Micro Garment, Nana Ibrahim,said 18 women workers fainted during a clash between striking workers and policework and workers who will come to work.
"The atmosphere here is chaos. The police beat us," said Nana Ibrahim, chairperson of the Joint Labor Struggle Solidarity group (GSPB).
The PT Micro Garment workers have been on strike since 6 May and plan to continue until 6 June.
They are demanding a reduction of working hours to 10 hours per day and are protesting the dismissal of hundreds of workers because of the strike.
Posts
[...] An earlier report said that the workers are also being targeted because of the involvement of the Christian YCW movement even though many or most of the workers are Muslim.The workers are calling on groups to contact Indonesia’s president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and also plan an appeal to the ILO. [...]
ReplyDelete