Bekasi – On the second day of the national strike, Tuesday November 25, the United People’s Committee (KPR) conducted sweeps of factories, held a convoy and a solidarity action for workers who have been dismissed.
Karawang
Resistance by the KPR was centred in the Karawang International Industry City (KIIC) in West Java where protesting workers held a convoy and blockaded the area. In the Surya Cite industrial zone, protesters almost clashed with security personnel from the Mobile Brigade (Brimob), although in the end the Indonesian Metal Trade Workers Federation (FSPMI) and the Confederation of the All-Indonesian Workers Union (SPSI) decided to withdraw.
“The PPMI [Fraternity of Indonesian Muslim Workers] focused the action in the KIIC, because there are many FSPMI factories that didn’t strike, ie were still operating”, said the regional leadership board chairperson of the PPMI, Wahidin, which is part of the KPR.
Wahidin added that as a result of the many workers who were still working, the KPR decided to focus its protests at one point, in the KIIC, because if they spread out their forces would be weakened. He also commended on the defeat of workers in Bekasi regency during the national strike.
“The link in the ‘stop production’ was broken in Bekasi regency because the workers’ resistance was blunted by repression on the part of police. If it [keeps up] like this the PP 78 [the government’s new regulation on wages] will continue to exists”, he said.
Cibitung
Protesters from the KPR and the Solidarity Alliance for Labour Struggle (GASP) conducted sweeps of factories along Warung Bongkok in Cibitung, Bekasi. They also went to other factories, particularly work places with workers who had received instructions from their trade union leadership to join the national strike, such as the FSPMI and the SPSI, urging the workers to leave the factories and join the action.
Cikarang
Scores of PPMI-KPR members held a solidarity action in front of the PT Hi-Tech Ink factory in the Delta Silicon industrial area of Cikarang, West Java. Mujiyo, a contract workers employed as a transport driver at PT Hi-Tech Ink, was arbitrarily sacked by the company. Mujiyo and five other workers joined the PPMI and demanded to be promoted to permanent works in accordance with Article 55 of Law Number 13/2003 on Labour. After a bipartite process however, the company sacked Mujiyo and his colleagues.
During the action, Mujiyo and his friends received the support and solidarity of PPMI workers from PT Try Industry and PT Seta Guan Solaris (SAGS) who had also been arbitrarily sacked by the company. Members of the FSPMI from PT Hi-Tech could also be seen leaving the factory to join the national strike. The FSPMI at PT Hi-Tech has not however supported Mujiyo and his colleagues’ struggle and has consistently supported the company’s position during bipartite negotiations.
[Translated by James Balowski for the Indoleft News Service. The original title of the report was Hari Kedua Mogok Nasional, Perlawanan KPR Sweeping Pabrik, Konvoi dan Solidaritas.]
