Displaying items by tag: Indonesia
Adidas meets with PT Kizone unions
Just days after demonstrations took place in Indonesia, Europe and the US demanding adidas pay $1.8 million to former PT Kizone workers, adidas asked to meet with the district level union, which represents the majority of PT Kizone workers, and the factory-level union. This is the first time it has agreed to meet with the union body that the majority of workers have chosen to represent them.
Take Action: tell adidas "step up your game" on workers' rights!
In January 2011, the owner of PT Kizone in Indonesia fled, resulting in the closure of the factory in April the same year, and leaving 2,800 workers without work and the severance pay they were entitled to. Sportswear brand adidas had been sourcing from PT Kizone for many years, where workers were paid as little as US$ 0.60 an hour.
So far adidas are refusing to pay a cent towards the compensation fund for PT Kizone workers.
Take action today! Fill in the form below to call on adidas to step up its game on workers' rights and demand justice for Kizone workers.
What happened at PT Kizone?
In January 2011, the owner of PT Kizone in Indonesia fled, resulting in the closure of the factory in April the same year, and leaving 2,800 workers without work and the severance pay they were entitled to. Sportswear brand adidas had been sourcing from PT Kizone for many years, where workers were paid as little as US$ 0.60 an hour.
In July 2011, other buyers at the factory announced that they would contribute US$ 1.6 million to a fund to compensate workers, roughly half of the US$ 3.4 million that was owed to them. To date adidas has refused to contribute to the fund. Now, a year after the factory shut down, the workers are still legally owed the remaining US$ 1.8 million in severance plus interest, which means former workers are incurring debts to survive and may be unable to keep sending their children to school.
Adidas: Olympic worker exploitation must stop
A recent investigation by The Independent reveals workers at nine Indonesian factories contracted to produce Olympic shoes and clothing for Adidas are working up to 65-hour weeks and earning as little as 34p an hour.
PROGRESS: Historic agreement signed with sportswear brands
An historic agreement which follows two years of negotiations between sportswear brands and indonesian trade unions was finally signed on 7th June. The pact which addresses core labour rights issues in Indonesian factories was agreed by Indonesian textile, clothing and footwear unions, major supplier factories and the major sportswear brands, including Adidas, Nike and Puma.
SPEAKER TOUR: Sweating for the Olympics
UK national speaker tour, 6-11 June 2010
Lilis Mahmudah, from the Serikat Pekerja Nasional (Textile and Garment Trade Union), Indonesia, will e touring the UK to speak aout life for the thousands of workers producing for adidas, Nike, Umbro and other major sportswear brands in Indonesia.
Adidas: Stop Wearing Us Out
Tell Adidas to keep its promises to Indonesian workers
If Adidas can spend millions of euros sponsoring individual athletes and sporting events, surely it should value the women and men who worked for years producing its products in Asia?
Over three years ago adidas made a promise to workers who lost their jobs when a large supplier, PT Spotec closed down. They told them that they would be givien hiring priority in other local adidas suppliers. Many workers are still without jobs.
Adidas also made a commitment to support union leaders who were dismissed by another adidas supplier, Panarub, in contravention of their human rights. However several of these workers have applied up to nine times for work, only to be rejected without any legitimate reason.
These workers had made adidas shoes for up to 8 years before losing their jobs. They were also active in their former workplace unions. They are now concerned that their past union participation is resulting in unfair treatment as they apply for work at other Adidas supplier factories.
Ask Adidas to keep its promises and ensure that these former union leaders are are given a fair opportunity to gain work.
Suwandi's story
Suwandi made Adidas for 6 years until he was sacked for his union activity. This is the story of one workers struggle for his rights.
Suparjo's story
Suparjo made Adidas shoes for 8 years before losing his job for his participation in a strike asking for better wages. Here he tells his story about why he decided to take a stand.
Adidas' broken promises
Adidas claim to support workers’ rights but at the same time the company wants high quality, fast, flexible and cheap production. This forces factories to choose between business and workers' rights. Workers at Panarub, Spotec and PT Don Joe, all adidas or former adidas suppliers have been paying the price.
Panurub: Sacked after fighting for better pay
The Panarub factory, located near Indonesia's capital Jakarta, employs more than 10,000 workers, mostly female. It makes the adidas Predator Pulse boots as well as the +F50.6 Tunit boots which were heavily promoted by some famous footballers during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
In October 2005 33 Panarub workers were fired after they participated in a legal strike trying to get better pay for the thousands of workers in the factory. Workers were being paid as little as 35 pence/40 euro cents an hour and dramatic rises in the cost of living in Indonesia had been occuring. An international campaign was launched to call or their reinstatement.
On the 23rd April 2007 the 33 workers, almost the entire Perbupas union leadership at the Panarub factory in Indonesia, accepted severance pay. They could no longer afford to continue the battle against their employers. Despite the dismissed workers receiving a good severance pay-out, there were ongoing violations of workers’ union rights at the Panarub factory.
By June 2009 The Perbupas union (now called SBGTS) had re-established itself in the factory, and now has approximately 2,000 members. Through this union and another union at the factory, workers are pushing for better pay and conditions.
This progress from adidas is very welcome, however we are continuing to call on adidas to fulfil its promise to support the 33 workers who were illegally sacked from the factory into new work. A number of them have applied up to nine times for work at another adidas supplier but have been refused interviews for a variety of reasons, while other less experienced and skilled staff have been taken on.
PT Spotec and PT Don Joe: Thousands making adidas goods lose their jobs
In November 2006 the Pt Spotec and Pt Dong Joe factories closed leaving 10,500 workers without jobs. These factories produced for Reebok, and then for adidas after adidas bought Reebok. The Clean Clothes campaign expressed concern that the buying practices of adidas were likely to be one of the main reasons the factories had to close.
adidas alleged all three supplier factories had “huge and unsustainable debts due to gross financial mismanagement.” Trade unions involved in the three factories believed that this debt is because of an upgrade in infrastructure that was carried out at the request of adidas.
adidas was unwilling to provide evidence of their allegations of mismanagement by their former supplier factories or that their buying practices did not contribute to the closure of PT Spotec and Dong Joe.
The Clean Clothes Campaign, Oxfam Australia, the unions from the factories and concerned citizens from around the world called on adidas to help the workers find new jobs. We were particularly worried that union leaders from these factories might be blacklisted and denied work in other factories.
In February 2009, following an ongoing campaign, we persuaded adidas to make sure ex-Spotec workers were prioritised during recruitment and employment at their new sport shoe supplier factory (CLI), which took over the site of the old Spotec factory. As a result, 1450 ex-Spotec workers have now got jobs at CLI, including a number of the trade union leaders.
Again, we welcome this progress, but we remain concerned about the fate of the 9,000 workers from Spotec and Dong Joe who didn’t get jobs at CLI. This includes a number of former trade union leaders. We are particularly concerned at the lack of transparency in the recruitment process employed by CLI.
Ask adidas to keep its promise to workers
Want to know more?
See the stories of the workers behind the brand and read about their lives and thoughts on the campaign blog.
