Skip to main content

Giant Slayers - Asian Agri vs. Serikat Buruh Sejahtera Indonesia 1992





PT Andalas IntiAgro Lestari

I surveyed this plantation yesterday which is located in Aek Kuo, Labuhanbatu Utara. It is part of the plantations under Asian Agri (Oil Palm Producer) in North Sumatra. There about 400 workers employed in this plantation, non-management staff. There are various tasks done by workers, harvesting, spraying, fertilizing and general work. Women work as daily wage workers or as 'buruh harian lepas' as they are known here. They earn IDR 61,000 per day ( RM19.29) working from 6.30 am to 1.30 pm. They carry out a range of tasks - spraying (semprot), segregation fertilizer (menguntil), weeding, census taking, maintenance and fertilizing (memupuk). 
Women's participation
Women are recruited by the management of the plantation but not as permanent workers with benefits. These women's husbands work on the plantation and are permanent workers or 'SKU'. The work tasked to women is part of the plantation's production. Some of the women who do not get opportunities for daily work or 'BLH' as they are known, usually assist their husbands in collecting loose fruit when the men harvest. This plantation does not pay its harvesters for loose fruits collected. However, it is part of the task of harvesting and harvesters are expected to collect the loose fruits. The management is aware that the assistance of the wives would be sought by the husbands, and it would not need to pay for the labour of women. At times, the harvesters need to hire others at IDR 20,000 (RM 6.32 or USD 2.04). Harvesters who can't afford to pay others to work for them, tend to force their children to assist them achieve the impossible targets set by the plantation. 
M

M was one of the women I interviewed, she used to work as a 'BHL'. The money that she earned was helpful for her family's expenses. When her husband started actively organizing for the union, she was not allowed to work. 'BHL'/daily wage workers are not permanent employees, hence are in a vulnerable position. The management can hire or fire without providing any justification. Most women who take on daily waged labour are often in fear of losing their only opportunity to earn a living for their families. 

M was a victim of intimidation of the plantation. She was suddenly denied work without any explanation by the management. When she complained to her husband, he was at a loss. He was unable to act on her behalf, M frequently had fights with her husband due to this. She believes on the union could agitate for her cause, her husband does not allow her to participate in union activities. During my interview with her, she wanted to be trained and involved in the union because she believed it could protect her rights.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning to Mentor

Background I had a wonderful opportunity to attend a useful workshop organized by the Malaysian Institute of Management (MIM) in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS). The workshop was entitled 'Women Mentoring Development Programme' was attended by over 40 women from various fields: civil society, small and medium level entrepreneurs, training and education.  The training was conducted in English by two master trainers who have had experience in mentoring women entrepreneurs. They presented a comprehensive workshop structure which included personal mastery, skills mastery and process mastery. We started with discovering our basic personality attributes to understand our prominent characteristics. We were introduced to a local developed personality assessment tool the LEONARD Personality Inventory. It was quite interesting to discover one's strength and shortcomings based on the analysis.  I am going to highlight some of the elements of the worksh...
1 comment
Read more

A Library for Kampung Tering

Murni Bte Liga of Kampung Tering, an idyllic village in the outskirts of Kuala Pilah, has a burning desire. She is passionate about improving access to quality education for her community. She has often raised her concerns about quality education for Orang Asli children in meetings with authorities or civil society organizations. One of the issues that she finds problematic is the high attrition among Orang Asli children at primary and secondary school levels. In order to address the issue at her village, she decided to set up a functioning library which could be used by the children. Women from the village organizing the reading material for the library She noted the interest of mothers' in the village who want their children to improve their English language skills. She expressed her interest in running workshops on a monthly basis for her community. The workshops would focus on improving the language skills of the children who participate.  Essay writing activities ...
1 comment
Read more

Dealing with illness

I arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia on 1st March 2013. This portends my second phase of the research. I must admit, I was verily prepared for Indonesia. Many upheavals and changes had left me quite emotionally drained. Nevertheless, the work must go on. I was instantly shocked at how much things cost in Jakarta. Well definitely not as bad as KL. However, it would be straining a limited stipend. Backpackers - 6 Degrees, Jakarta Fortunately, the gods of travel were kind to me which led me to 6 Degrees, Cikini Raya, Jakarta. It turned out to be a mixed blessing. I was very worried about the lack of privacy but I was pleasantly surprised by the pods concept available at 6 Degrees. Yes, even a curtain can make a great difference. Plus I was paying ridiculously affordable rates in one of the most expensive cities in S.E.A. Food - killed me Ah...food which was my undoing entirely. Fooled by a very fortunately experience in Yogjakarta where I had a smorgasbord of street food and survived. ...
1 comment
Read more