At the meeting, which took place on Tuesday 12th June, adidas presented a plan to provide food aid worth approximately Rp300,000/person to all of the Kizone workers prior to Eid al-Fitr, a key holiday in the Muslim calendar, which this year falls in mid-August. (This would be approximately US$86,000 total.) Both unions rejected this as an inadequate response, and demanded that adidas ensure workers receive full severance. In fact workers had already made clear that food vouchers were not sufficient to resolve this dispute. In a letter sent to adidas the previous week they stated;
“While we are desperately in need of any form of financial support for our families we are insulted by the idea that adidas needs to “assess” who among us is in “true need.” We earned this severance and we can assure you that our families need it. Our children are hungry but food vouchers will not keep our children in school or our families in our homes. We call on adidas to ensure we receive all the money we are legally owed and that we earned making adidas products...”
Following the meeting one worker stated that “This [offer] is not compensation or genuine care from adidas; rather, this is an insult to all of us.”
Adidas are clearly starting to feel the pressure. Last week saw a round of protests and press reports across Europe, the US and Indonesia. This week it enters into mediation with the University of Wisconsin regarding the resolution of this case.
This is the first time adidas has agreed to directly meet with the union representing most PT Kizone workers. Now we need to convince them to go further and make sure these workers are paid what they are owed.
Tell adidas today: pay PT Kizone workers what they are owed...
