Labor Rights Now urged the Indonesian government to release six leaders of the Kahutindo PT Musim Mas union who have been imprisoned since September 2005.

    Musim Mas operates the world's largest palm oil refinery. Workers formed a union in October 2004 at the firm's operation in Pelalawan and attempted to negotiate modest conditions for the palm oil workers. Management reportedly refused to bargain with them over even the minimum standards guaranteed by national legislation.

    In February 2005 four union officers were fired and authorities rubberstamped the dismissals. On September 8, 2005, the union urged management to reinstate the union chair and to implement the minimum legal standards.

    Kahutindo PT said it would strike if management did not agree to the proposals. The company quickly brought in replacement workers and the next day a company truck drove into a union picket line, resulting in the hospitalization of two workers. That action angered workers who reportedly damaged the factory gate in frustration.

    The International Union of Foodworkers reported that police used the damage as an excuse to repress the strike and smash the union. Six union officers were arrested and charged under the notorious Article 170 of the Indonesian Criminal Code—the judicial catchall that was a mainstay of the repressive decades under Suharto.

    With the top labor leaders in Bangkinang Prison, management then fired 701 union members and authorities deployed heavily armed military forces to evict them and their families from the plantation estate housing.

    Labor Rights Now asked Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's president, to intervene and order the release of the union members.

More Information

• ICFTU's Annual Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights in Indonesia