FACTSHEET INDONESIAN WORKERS FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE AT THE PORT OF TANJUNG PRIOK, JAKARTA, INDONESIA June 2017 1
Indonesia is Australia s twelfth largest trading partner, with two-way investment between Indonesia and Australia valued at AUD $9.8 billion in 2015. Trade in goods and services between the countries surpasses investment and was valued at AUD $15 billion in 2015. Indonesian port infrastructure is critical to Australia and Indonesia s trade partnership and remains the gateway for trade between the two economies. Indonesia s rapid expansion Between 2006 and 2014, container traffic through Indonesian ports almost tripled to around 12 million TEUs (international standard containers), and has steadily increased since. This increase is 20 times the global and regional growth rates in TEUs over the same period. Indonesia s container port sector is now substantially larger than comparable economies (e.g. Australia, Philippines, Thailand) and is second in the region only to the shipping hubs of Singapore and Malaysia. The Port of Tanjung Priok Tanjung Priok Port is located in North Jakarta, Indonesia. It is the largest container port in Indonesia, carrying over 800,000 international TEUs and over 1,200,000 domestic TEUs in 2016. More than 30 per cent of Indonesia s non oil and gas commodities go through Tanjung Priok, and 50 per cent of the total flow of goods in and out of Indonesia go through the port. The port handles a diverse range of cargoes and commodities, including containers, bulk and general cargo, and specialist cargoes such as oil and gas. 2
ICTSI OPERATION AT TANJUNG PRIOK Port ownership structure International Container Terminal Services International (ICTSI) is a Philippines owned port company which operates 28 ports worldwide. ICTSI s global headquarters is in Manila, Philippines. ICTSI s local subsidiary, Olah Jasa Andal (OJA), is a publicly listed company in Indonesia. Ninety-nine per cent of shares in OJA are owned by ICTSI Jasa Prima (IJP), with the remaining 1 per cent owned by Karinwashindo Centra Graha (KCG). KCG is involved in running inter-city buses in Indonesia. A senior figure from KCG, Fithri Astrid Mariasih Tambunan, is a director of OJA. The majority owner of OJA, IJP, is ICTSI s primary operating company in Indonesia. It also owns a majority stake in ICTSI s Makassar operation. IJP is 95 per cent owned by Singapore listed company ICTSI Far East Pte. Ltd. ICTSI workforce at Tanjung Priok ICTSI directly employs 139 people at OJA. Approximately 100 of these workers load and unload ships, with the rest involved in administration. The workers are represented by Federasi Buruh Transportasi Pelabuhan Indonesia (FBTPI). FBTPI is an officially registered Indonesian union consisting of over 3,000 members in the Indonesian transport industry. FBTPI, through its affiliate Serikat Buru Pelabuhan Nusantara (SBPN), represents the workers who work at the OJA terminal. Key port stakeholders The key players in ICTSI s OJA operation in Jakarta are as follows: Government: 40 per cent profit share of OJA via state-owned port operator PELINDO II. Owner: ICTSI owns in excess of 95 per cent of the Indonesia operations. Workers: 139 employees at the OJA terminal, of which 87 are members of FBTPI. Board of Commissioners of IJP: - Commissioner Rafael Dela Cruz Conzing - Independent Commissioner Albertus Sumardi (former senior PELINDO figure) - President Commissioner Christian Razon Gonzales (other roles include: Vice President and Head of Asia Pacific Region, ICTSI (parent company); and Director, Victoria International Container Terminal). Operating contract OJA has a 15-year contract to operate a terminal at the Port of Jakarta, from 2013-28. The terms of the contract includes a 40/60 per cent profit share agreement with Tanjung Priok s state-owned operator PELINDO II. This makes the Indonesian Government a direct stakeholder in OJA. 3
UNETHICAL CORPORATE PRACTICES IN THE PORT OF TANJUNK PRIOK 1. Undercutting industry standards ICTSI is undercutting industry standards at the Port of Tanjung Priok, undermining the working conditions of Indonesian port workers. Workers at ICTSI s OJA terminal are paid as little as 15 per cent of the equivalent wages for workers at other major container terminals in Indonesia. The OJA terminal sits alongside the two established international container terminals operated by Hutchison (KOJA and JICT). OJA workers receive a base wage of just US$250 per month, whereas the average wage for KOJA and JICT workers is around US$1500 per month. 2. Work practices at Tanjung Priok Workers at the ICTSI terminal, and their union FBTPI, have documented a range of concerning practices that undercut industry standards and drive down working conditions at the Port of Tanjung Priok. These tactics have included union busting, threats, illegal outsourcing of labour, illegal underpayments, and refusal to conclude a collective agreement with the legitimate union at ICTSI s OJA terminal in Jakarta. Didik Doank, Secretary General of the FBTPI, said that outsourced workers reported threats from management: In March 2017, the [outsourced] workers were called by the company. They were told to resign from the union, or their contracts would not be extended. Of the eight workers who refused to resign from the union, only three have had their contracts extended. 100 per cent of those who resigned retained their jobs. One worker at ICTSI said, for almost four years I had to work four hours overtime every shift. Rather than being paid for this time, I was given a bonus at the end of each month. It is totally unfair and illegal. Even the government told the company I had to be paid, but I have still received nothing for all those hours. A second worker, who operates heavy machinery for ICTSI stated, our pay is so low that we have to accept as much overtime as we can get. Sometimes you get so tired, but have to keep going if you want to take home a decent pay. Worst of all, they use overtime as a kind special favour to workers who side with management. Sooner or later there is going to be a serious accident. 3. Refusing to negotiate with Indonesian workers Despite negotiations concluding over a month ago, and multiple invitations from the union and two notices from the government requesting ICTSI to comply, the company is still refusing to come back to the workers with an offer to conclude a fair agreement. Secretary General of the FBTPI, Didik Doank, stated, All the workers want is a fair deal. The company committed to coming back to the workers with an offer in early June, and to date they are still refusing. At a demonstration in Tanjung Priok on Monday January 12, we called upon management to return to us with an offer still nothing. 4
In March 2017, the [outsourced] workers were called by the company. They were told to resign from the union, or their contracts would not be extended. Of the eight workers who refused to resign from the union, only three have had their contracts extended. 100 per cent of those who resigned retained their jobs. Didik Doank, Secretary General of the FBTPI 4. Breaching Indonesian law On 15 May 2017, the North Jakarta District Manpower Office issued notice No. 1944/-1.838 stating that OJA must end outsourcing at the site. As the company refused to take action, the District Manpower Office issued notice No 2193/-1.836 reiterating the first, and giving the company three days to respond. To date, there has been no action taken by the company. Subsequently in May 2017, the North Jakarta District Manpower Office published notice No. 239/2017 stating that the company has been illegally underpaying workers for overtime between 2011 and 2015, and must pay the entitlements. The workers had been seeking redress in good faith since 2015. As the company refused to act, in 2017 the workers were forced to escalate the issue to the relevant government authority. Even with the local government intervention, the company refuses to meet its responsibilities. 5. Dangerous working conditions The low pay offered by ICTSI at the Port of Jakarta, which falls significantly below the two established international container terminals in Jakarta, KOJA and JICT, means that workers are forced to accept illegal, and dangerously long shifts, to earn a living wage. In Indonesia, state regulation stipulates workers can work only three additional hours per day, and a maximum of 14 hours per week. At OJA however, workers report having to work as much as 300 hours in overtime in a single month, just to make ends meet. These extreme working hours put lives at risk, and greatly diminish the workers family time, quality of life, and ability to participate in community and religious life. 5
GLOBAL BUSINESS MODEL ICTSI is the world s most profitable port operators by TEU. It is one of the world s fastest growing operators, and in 2015 reported that they extracted more revenue per container than any other operator, three times more than most. In the past year the company has seen growing industrial unrest in other locations because of their treatment of workers. For example, at the Port of Toamasina in Madagascar, ICTSI has been implicated in violations of International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions including freedom of association and the right to collectively bargain. In 2012, 43 dock workers who worked at the port were unfairly dismissed for joining a union. The matter is currently before the (ILO). This dispute has escalated to draw in major fashion brands who export clothing through the Toamasina. ABOUT THE ITF The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), a global union federation, represents over 700 labour unions and more than 4.5 million union members around the world. The ITF has a long history of promoting the employment and welfare of seafarers, stevedores and other transport workers around the world. ITF contact Shannon O Keeffe Director Asia Pacific Campaign Centre International Transport Workers Federation Okeeffe_shannon@itf.org.uk +61 420 928 780 FBTPI contact Didik Noryanto Secretary General FBTPI adv.fbtpi@gmail.com +62 822 9918994 www.justicefordockworkers.org