Jakarta – Michelin Indonesia Inc, located in Pondok Indah Office Tower, Sultan Iskandar Muda Street, South Jakarta, targeted by more than 300 protesters from FSEDAR, Sunday (19/7/2020). The workers’ demands Michelin motorcycle tire manufacturer’s responsibility for the fate of Sum Hing Indonesia Ltd. factory workers. They have been faced with uncertain fate as outsourced contract workers or fixed term employment contract.
Sum Hing Indonesia Ltd. is a vendor who makes tire mold (motorcycle tire and car tire mold) for Michelin Indonesia Inc., which storing and distributing tire mold for Michelin motorcycle tire, Uniroyal Tiger Paw Touring A/S car tire and BF Goodrich Advantage Control car tire.
Allegedly, Sum Hing Indonesia Ltd. is violating Article 59 clause 7 and 8 and Article 66 of Law No. 13 of 2003 on Manpower (Indonesia Employment and Labour Laws and Regulations). These Articles stipulate businesses can only hire outsourced workers for supporting sections, such as cleaning service, catering service, security guards, oil and mining supporting jobs, and company’s transportation service.
Sum Hing Indonesia Ltd. disobeys the Labour Law and utilizes outsourced workers outside these five categories. Outsourced workers from Nindy Putri Mandiri Ltd. Outsorcing Service were placed in the main sections/core, which are Storage, Disassembly, Sandblast, Drilling, Mold Repair, Mold Assembly, Finishing/Machining, and Qualiy Control. These are main and central sections in the production process in Sum Hing Indonesia Ltd.
In his oration, a workers representative reveals several irregularities, which was borderline violation. For example, once, a factory worker intended to use his government issued health insurance (BPJS Kesehatan) for medical payment, but the card was told to be inactive.
“The company told him that it was because of system failure,” said the orator.
Another orator, Kadi Hidayatullah fiercely said that even though Michelin is known for their quality for motorcycle tire and widely used for MotoGP World Championship or racing, but turns out a lot of their affiliate vendor companies were legally delinquent.
“Probably, it is appropriate to assume, Michelin haven’t paid the employee’s BPJS for maximizing profit,” Kadi express his suspicion.
F-SEDAR President, Saiful Anam advices the workers to mutually support each other, for they have considerable problems ahead. The company is still violating a lot of regulations, especially in the supply chain level.
“Michelin Indonesia Ltd. Should be held responsible for regulation violations that happens in Sum Hing Indonesia Ltd. Even though their ethical code on human rights should be praised as extraordinarily exceeding expectation, but in the field, that same ethical code is just a display. They didn’t abide by their own ethical codes,” Saiful orates.
In their protest, the workers stated their demands. Their demands were as follows:
- Asking Michelin Indonesia Ltd., as Sum Hing Ltd. customer, to make sure Sum Hing Indonesia Ltd. is legally abiding regulations. To insist Sum Hing Indonesia Ltd. fulfilling written recommendations by Manpower and Transmigration Office, Number: 565/91/Disnaker and Number: 567/1660/Disnaker Dated March 18th 2020.
- Reinstate Sum HIng Indonesia Ltd. workers that unilaterally, wrongfully dismissed, in accordance with written recommendations by Manpower and Transmigration Office, Number: 565/91/Disnaker and Number: 567/1660/Disnaker Dated March 18th 2020. Also, restore the workers’ rights in the course of unemployment after they have been wrongfully dismissed.
- Reinstate Sum Hing Indonesia Ltd. workers, whom are members of of SPPB. They unilaterally sanctioned and wrongfully dismissed. Promote 18 SPPB members and coordinators to permanent employees in accordance with Article 59 clause 7 Labour Law Number 13 of 2003 on Manpower.
Based on MIchelin’s code of conduct that accessed from https://www.michelin.com/en/documents/michelin-code-of-ethics-2/, Michelin stated the code of conduct for its supplier companies is:
Michelin wants to ensure that its suppliers and services providers respect principles equivalent to those defined in the Group Code of Ethics, notably regarding the respect of human rights, and that they promote similar principles in their relationships with their own suppliers and subcontractors.
Michelin notably requests that its suppliers and subcontractors respect the following:
- International rules notably the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Global Compact, the OECD guidelines;
- Legal and regulatory provisions of labor law in force in the country (level of
remuneration, duration of work, freedom of association); - Fundamental rules of ILO, in particular conventions on child labor, forced labor, compulsory labor, respect of freedom of association and right of collective negotiation, and non-discrimination;
- Human dignity through acceptable work conditions;
- Security, safety and health rules, in order to limit the activities effects on safety and security of the personnel, and the communities which are near the installations;
- Safety rules applicable in the Michelin sites where they work.
This undertaking, taken by the Michelin Group, to act in a responsible and ethical way regarding the employees, partners and local communities, has to be understood and respected by all of you. The vigilance and involvement for reach person are essential for this approach to be perennial.***
Source: Ban Michelin Dipakai MotoGP, Buruh Vendornya Menjerit
