Fatalities, Work Accidents, Union Suppression and Worker Criminalization: The Fate of Indonesian and Chinese Workers at the PT GNI Nickel Smelter #4

By Permata Adinda and Muammar Fikrie for Project Multatuli, May 26, 2023

Countering of Labor Unions

PT GNI’s Gate IV is the bustling entrance to it industrial plant complex. On that evening, as 5:00 p.m. approached, workers’ motorbikes were coming and going. Shift changes were underway.

Some workers briefly stopped at the rows of shops lining the street outside the industrial plant complex. A motorcycle repair shop serviced a queue of bikes to be washed or repaired. Some workers wore yellow helmets and gray-brown PT GNI uniform shirts. Others wore whatever tops they had, including uniforms from other companies. Their pants varied. Some wore matching pants with the PT GNI shirts while others wore jeans or ordinary trousers.

Uniform shops for various companies lined the street as well. In one shop, the price for a top without pants was set at Rp200,000 ($13). These uniforms were directly sourced by the seller from PT Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), another nickel industrial complex in Morowali district, 102 miles from PT GNI along the coast of Central Sulawesi.

“This is already the cheapest,” said the seller. “Just the shirt. You can wear any pants here. Any pants are fine.” He also sold helmets from IMIP. According to him, IMIP goods were much sturdier compared to the helmets provided by PT GNI. “IMIP helmets cost Rp300,000 ($20). Brand new.”

Hikmah, a PT GNI worker, had just returned from work. At 7:00 p.m., he went to a coffee shop in Bunta village. He stopped briefly before returning to his boarding house in Kolonodale. He invited a young man in his twenties.

“He’s my neighbor. He wants to work. I’m training him,” said Hikmah, who worked as a dump truck driver. The training involved Hikmah accompanying and teaching his neighbor how to drive the truck. This is a common practice at PT GNI, he said.

“The important thing is to be mentally prepared here,” Hikmah advised, using a pseudonym to protect his identity.

Hikmah wasn’t feeling well. His speech was frequently interrupted by fits of coughing. He planned to take a sick day so he could go to the health clinic. Throat and respiratory illnesses often affect workers. “Maybe it’s because of the dust,” he said. “Especially for me since I deal with a lot of coal.”

Inside the compound, the nickel smelter emits air pollution, thick dust clouds with visibility limited to three meters. The situation worsened during the dry season. “Dust, heat. It’s unbearable,” he said. Conversely, during the rainy season, the roads become muddy and flooded. Inside the compound, motorcycles ride alongside cargo-carrying vehicles like dump trucks, exposing workers directly to road dust.

The medical mask Hikmah wore when meeting us was the same mask he used for work. He bought the mask himself. The company does not routinely supply masks to workers. “They used to provide them. But it’s been about four months since they stopped providing masks.”

Hikmah said his job was considered fortunate. Truck drivers worked in air-conditioned cabins. In contrast workers in the smelter and warehouse divisions were directly exposed to ore dust. “Ore dust is inhaled once, and your throat dries up. It’s hot, after all. It’s iron. Nickel,” he explains. “When hot iron is given, the dust flies around. We inhale it. It gets in our eyes. Every day.”

Hikmah often hears complaints from smelter division workers who weren’t provided with specialized masks for work while the indoor dust is so thick that visibility is limited.

“Workers in the smelter use standard masks. There used to be a friend who wore a full-face mask, but I see more who don’t,” said Hikmah. “In the ore warehouse, people work in enclosed spaces, full of dust, heavy equipment, you can’t see anything. Ventilation for air circulation wasn’t provided before. Now it is.”

Hikmah’s working hours are from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., with a 1-hour break. His basic salary is Rp3.4 million ($225) per month based on an 8-hour workday. Overtime is calculated for anything beyond that. In his division, overtime is mandatory for three hours every day. As a result, his monthly income varies. On average, it’s Rp7 million ($465), but with additional overtime, it can reach Rp8 million.

Hikmah uses his monthly wage to pay rent of Rp1.5 million per month, a motorcycle installment of Rp1 million per month, and food expenses of Rp2 million per month; the remainder is sent to the village to support his parents and siblings’ education.

This situation differs from that of workers in the smelter production division, where overtime hours are limited, resulting in their wages being around the basic salary of Rp3.4 million per month. Smelter and warehouse workers often complain, their wages are much smaller in comparison to the heavy workloads and risks involved.

While his monthly salary can reach Rp7 to 8 million, Hikmah expressed “a lot of disappointment” about working at PT GNI. When he started working there they provided no orientation about the company’s rules and safety procedures. Hikmah was simply let go. “Environmental familiarization is necessary. There are many hazards inside the compound. In my previous job experience there were orientations provided by the company.”

Hikmah only received work uniforms or safety gear from the company after working for two years, in fact after the National Workers Union and the workers held demonstrations.

“Initially, when I first started working, I was only given a helmet. I wore shirts like this one,” Hikmah said, pointing to the shirt under his PT GNI uniform. At that time he didn’t even receive safety boots. “Sometimes I would see workers wearing sandals.”

The company did provide work shoes, but the quality did not meet safety standards. “The boots are synthetic leather. A friend tested them by running over them with a truck, and they bent.” So fearing accidents, he chose to buy his own shoes which he considered safer. “These have steel tips,” he said, pointing to the boots he was wearing.

On January 14, Hikmah participated in the strike with the National Workers Union. One of the workers’ demands was for the company to not cut salaries without clearly defined reasons. However, after participating in the demonstration, Hikmah received a reprimand and a salary cut. The company claimed he had been absent from work.

Hikmah wasn’t the only demonstrator at the protest to receive a warning letter and a pay cut. Some were even fired.

The company cut workers’ allowances. Typically, in addition to the basic salary, workers receive allowances and overtime pay. The company usually cuts skill allowances or overtime pay. Overtime pay ranges from Rp400,000 to Rp600,000 per month, depending on performance. Hikmah’s overtime pay was cut for a month.

Hikmah said he was not a member, but referred to himself as a “sympathizer” of the National Workers Union. He said “many workers” at PT GNI were interested in joining the union but were afraid because of threats their contracts would be terminated.

“We’re just trying to make a living, and it’s difficult,” Hikmah said.

Amirullah, the Chair of the National Workers Union branch at PT GNI, said union officials distributed 4,000 membership registration forms. To give an idea, the number of PT GNI workers was around 9,000 in 2022 and increased to 11,000 in 2023. However, only around 80 workers joined the union.

“Many are interested. But due to intimidation from the company they’re afraid to return the forms,” Amirullah said.

Mr. Puji Santoso from the Central Leadership Executive of the National Workers Union (SPN) in Jakarta said fear was the main reason PT GNI workers did not join the union. On the other hand workers looked to the SPN as the only union at PT GNI.

“They need some kind of guarantee that when they join the union they can still keep their jobs,” Puji said.

The SPN was formed at PT GNI on April 21, 2022. On May 23, the union’s formation was recorded at the North Morowali district office of the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration. However, when SPN officials notified the company’s management about the union’s formation, the company launched a crackdown.

One by one, union officials were denied contract extensions. Initially targeting three officials including Amirullah in July 2022. The next wave hit Mr. Minggu Bulu. In total, ten SPN PT GNI officials were fired by the company including two officials whose contracts were terminated after the strike on January 14.

The modus operandi varied, but the majority of their employment contracts were terminated by PT GNI management. Some were forced to resign.

The consequences of the Omnibus Law on Job Creation passed under the administration of President Joko Widodo gives companies significant authority to establish employment statuses of less than a year in length. The majority of PT GNI workers were offered three-month initial employment contracts, which could then be extended for another six months, and then nine months.

However, there were several cases of workers whose contract periods became even shorter.

Amirullah, for example. Initially contracted for six months, but after being identified as an SPN official, his contract was shortened to just three months, then one month, and then finally it was not renewed.

The same thing happened to Mr. Minggu Bulu. Initially contracted for two months, which the company called a “trial period,” he was extended to six months, and then nine. After the company discovered he was a union official, the next contract extension was only for three months. After that, his employment was terminated by PT GNI management.

Minggu Bulu once asked the HR department to explain the reason for terminating his contract when his performance and attendance were not poor. The HR department asked him to ask his division, but at the division “I was told to ask HR. It’s like tossed back and forward.”

After the strike, apart from SPN officials, “some union members were given warnings. I advocated to HR because I considered it a violation of the law. Strikes are not illegal,” Minggu Bulu said. “But some friends I advocated for ended up being terminated.”

“The HR department insists that they were not being penalizing because of the strike but for absenteeism. I argued with them. It was clear that they were absent because of the strike.”

The contract worker regime in the form of fixed-term employment agreements (known locally as PKWT) at PT GNI is the root of the problem, said Mr. Puji Santoso from the national leadership executive of the SPN.

Under this labor system, companies can be seen as not breaking the law when they terminate the contracts of workers who join unions. Companies can argue that the workers’ tenure has ended, without needing to explain the real reasons why their contracts are not renewed.

“The company plays with contract terminations. It’s very difficult for us to argue against it,” Mr. Puji said. “What needs to be canceled is the system of fixed-term employment agreements (PKWT). Then workers will have some security.” (Continued..)

This article is based on https://projectmultatuli.org/kematian-kecelakaan-kerja-pemberangusan-serikat-kriminalisasi-nasib-pekerja-indonesia-dan-tiongkok-di-industri-smelter-nikel-pt-gni/.

Featured image credit: Tropical Rainforest in Indonesia By Rhett Ayers Butler https://www.butlernature.com/2022/01/04/whats-the-outlook-for-tropical-rainforests-in-2022/

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