By May Sari
SURABAYA — One thousand five hundred workers at PT Surabaya Meka Box in East Java, Indonesia, began a strike on February 21 to protest against the dismissal of three colleagues who were representing workers in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement. The 1500 are members of the Centre of Surabaya Workers' Struggle, which is affiliated to the FNPBI, the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle.
The three, Bagyo, Supanut and Sidik, had rejected company recommendations which they believed were not fair to the workers at the nail, plastic and paper box factory. The union has recently succeeded in gaining several concessions from the company, including menstruation leave for women workers and greater job security for casual workers.
Within an hour of learning that the three had been sacked, the strike, begun by workers in the carton division, had spread to other divisions in the factory.
The strikers were attacked by the company and police on February 22, but responded by escalating their demands. They demanded a 2000 rupiah daily transportation allowance and that Soien Sutopo, one of the managers, be fired.
The company responded with false claims that Sutopo had resigned and with more violence, injuring many workers on the strike's fourth day. A blockade of the road leading into the industrial area was attacked by 100 riot police.
On February 26, police drove a truck into a mass of picketers sitting on the ground. Two hundred riot police then chased the strikers into the neighbouring community.
The workers are refusing to give in and are demanding that the company pay them for their time on strike. One worker, Supanut, said, "I wonder why the boss docks our wages. He said that we had been undisciplined for not working ... Did he not know that we were on strike and that it is our right? We want the boss to pay all our wages, no less."
Another, Cholik, said the employer must reinstate the three it fired. "As long as the boss refuses them, we will continue our strike. One for all and all for one."
The strike is being supported by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. It said in a March 6 letter to Indonesia's President Abdurrahman Wahid that, despite the recent "notable progress" towards democratic rule in Indonesia, "fundamental workers' rights apparently continue to be violated by managers of companies, often with the active cooperation of the country's security forces".