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| SBMNI on May Day 2001 march at the port Tanjung Priok |
We established SBMNI (Solidaritas Buruh Maritim dan Nelayan Indonesia) on June 29th 2000. At that time our organization consisted of 4 unions:
Recently, a new sector has joined us, the Solidaritas Buruh Cleaning Service Indonesia, SBCI, which for the moment consists of 300 members.
SBMNI is an independent, militant, and democratic union. It has been legally registered at the Ministry of Manpower. We have the strongest mass base at the port Tanjung Priok Jakarta, the only international and therefore biggest port in Indonesia. Other ports in which we are building our union are Semarang (Central Java) and Surabaya (East Java), while we also already have several contacts in Lampung (Sumatra), and Bandung and Cilegon (West Java).
SBMNI uses monthly membership dues for the funding of day to day activities and the payment of our office and infrastructure. In case if there is a strike in one company, the other members always collect money for solidarity to support their friends’ struggle.
Our first action was on October 10th 2000. 40 container trucks blockaded the entry gate of the DPR RI (the Parliament) to demand an improvement of wages and refuse the government decision to stop oil subsidies, in that way increasing the oil prices which would weigh heavily upon the drivers.
On November 9th and 10th 2000, our members, 3.000 dockers and 7.000 truckers did a big action at the port of Tanjung Priok Jakarta, the biggest action at the port in Indonesian history and the first port workers strike since decades. During the Soeharto era the port was strongly controlled by the military so as to see that workers did not strike. The seafarers and fishermen also supported their friends in the November strike. We occupied and blockaded the port of Tanjung Priok to pressure our demands for improvement of our status, wage, and working conditions (see infra interview).
On May 1st 2001, SBMNI celebrated May Day at the port Tanjung Priok, which was the first and biggest May Day rally at the port since 1965. Six thousand members were involved in the event, which started at the port and then rallied 5 kilometers along the main access way to the port.
The port Tanjung Priok was established in 1877 by the colonial government of the Netherlands since the old harbor of Batavia did not fit for the needs of a modern port.
At the beginning of the 20th the life of the coolies in the port did not differ with that of the coolies on the plantations. They were still in the grip of the foremen and the crimps. In general, the coolies in Tanjung Priok came from the city Banten and its surroundings, because their ancestors previously also were forced to be workers for the VOC (the Dutch East Indies Company).
In the year 1911, the PBP (the Federation of Native Custom Officers) came into existence, a sort of union for government employees in the port custom office. Coolies were not included.
February 1937. The resistance of Boat Seven, resistance of Indonesian seamen against the colonial government of Holland. Afterwards they were executed.
After the liberation of Indonesia in the year 1945, the port coolies (dockers) formed their own organization under the name ‘Uni Kampong’.
December 1949. Indonesia accepts the pact KMB, which is disadvantageous for the Indonesian side. The first mistake of the pact was that all Dutch companies which at the moment of the revolution (1945-49) were overtaken by the workers, were forced back into the hands of the Dutch, especially those in the port.
At the time the reactionary act KMB was implemented, SBPP (the Port and Sea Union) was born, more exactly on February 5 1950,out of the traditions of the Boat Seven resistance. Later SBPP merged with SOBSI, the strongest union in Indonesian history.
Six months later, August 1950,SBPP launched its first strike. At that moment the union consisted of 3 sectors:
Their demands were wage increase, and a 7-hour working day or 40-hour working week. The strike continued for 13 days and the demands were fulfilled. That time the leadership consisted of: Sarbini, Slamet Kusnadi, Sarijo, Mulyono, Efendie Fakih, Mohamad Saintan, between others.
1951. Emergency Decree no. 16/51 was issued, a law which core was curbing the rights to strike and defend the employers against the working class.
1954. Five hundred thousand workers from SKBM (the Oil Workers Union) and SBPP stage a strike in Central and South Sumatra, opposing the concessions to foreign contractors like exclusive selling agents. As a result of those concessions the oil of Indonesia was ‘marketed’, i. e. foreign contractors had the right to 20 % ownership. And the management control was already in the hand of foreigners.
1956-57. The nationalization of Dutch companies, by which SBPP takes position in the port. But afterwards the control is transferred by military force. The same years also the war emergency situation prevailed and the military began to take charge of the already nationalized foreign companies.
Following this, some unions came into existence, namely the Rukun Buruh Indonesia (the Harmonious Workers of Indonesia) under the leadership of H. Djaelani, and SBKMI (the Maritime Workers and Employees Union of Indonesia) under the leadership of Amir Duri and Haji Kondur. Both unions were in the embrace of the government.
1965. The military coup by the group around Soeharto. SBPP is disbanded and several leaders are arrested and even killed.
1969. The port workers, at that time numbering 15.000,are merged in an organization with the name Badan Usaha Karya (Work Committee). Badan UKA was presided by Tentara, a captain of the TNI AL (the military) with the name Muhammad.
1978. Port containers are started to being used, still limited, but the process of mechanization begins, with the result that the workforce of 15.000 decreases to 9.000 by the year 1980.
Beginning of the 1980s. The special container terminal is established, and in those years there also appear for the first time trailer trucks.
1985. Followers of Islam protest against the state ideology. Many port workers are killed by the military without reason. Their names are never exposed.
The moment J. E. Habibie takes office as port administrator, the BPP (Committee of Port Entrepreneurs) is founded, which later becomes the Port Public Corporation and in the end PT Indonesian Port Company.
By the middle of the 1990s, the container terminal is managed by foreign companies from Hong Kong under the name Jakarta International Container Terminal.
1993. SPMI (Maritime Employees Union of Indonesia) is formed as a sector of FSPSI (the All-Indonesian Trade Union, the yellow union). Afterwards SPMI becomes SPTI (Transport Employees Union of Indonesia) [1].
Since the ratification of the ILO conventions by President Habibie in 1999, there came again into existence a few employee unions like SP JICT and SP Pelindo.
June 29 2000. SBMNI (the Solidary Union of Indonesian Maritime Workers and Fishermen) is born.
On October 10 2000, SBMNI organizes its first action. The container truckers seal off the entrance gate of the DPR RI (the parliament) with 30 trucks (see picture). Our main demand is the abolishment of the oil price increase.
On November 9 and 10 2000, SBMNI holds a strike and blockades the port of Tanjung Priok (see picture). This action involves almost all dockers and container truck drivers, of course together with their trucks. We demand a permanent status, wage increase, allowances, etc. Also, we get solidarity support from tens of sea- and fishermen.
The blockade of the port had the following impact:
Many shipping companies and those who export to foreign countries had to delay their activities, for instance shipments from China, the UK, Singapore and other countries that have as destination Tanjung Priok. In the end they had to be cancelled.
The resulting material loss experienced by the import and export sector amounted to 12 billion rupiah per day, the transport sector 2,5 billion rupiah per day, and the workers wages around 2,2 billion rupiah per day [2]. Stated in different terms, there was a loss of working hours, as much as 50.400 hours per day, and a loss in productivity as much as 756.000 tons per day.
The most direct loss by the disturbance of production was felled in companies connected with the supply of raw materials. Even the current export, especially of non-petrol products, was delayed because it has to pass Tanjung Priok. Around 75 boats were tied up in the port and could not be loaded or unloaded at all. As a consequence several companies were not able to operate since they could not obtain raw materials. For instance, just for the textiles sector the export loss caused by the blockade reached 20 billion rupiah per day, to which must be added an import loss of 7 billion rupiah per day. And then we are just talking about textile production, not other important export products such as shoes. We estimate that the overall loss was as big as 7 million $ U. S. per day.
On May Day 2001, an action was staged by some 6.000 workers of which the majority came from the dockers and truckers, supported by some sea- and fishermen (see picture). From 6 a. m. until 9 a. m. the port was blocked, after which we held a rally of 5 kilometers ending at the City District Office of North Jakarta, where we demonstrated for 1 hour. Following that, we assembled in front of the office of SBMNI in Tanjung Priok at 2 p. m. There we made a convoy of 15 trucks with around 1.000 people to go from Tanjung Priok via the highway to the National Monument in Central Jakarta (see picture), to merge with our comrades of the other unions. However, when we wanted to leave the highway, the exit was blocked by some 100 fully-armed policemen. Every exit seemed blocked, so in the end we had to go back to Tanjung Priok, so we failed to merge with other unions.
The May Day action too had a big impact on the smooth running of loading and unloading, and the export and import of products and containers in the port, although not the paralyzing impact of the November 2000 strike. For example, the footwear industry noted a loss as big as 7 million $ U. S. because almost all the shoe export passes the port Tanjung Priok. Nevertheless, the impact of the action was not as big as before since the port officials and companies knew already for some time that we were going to stage an action on the 1st of May, so that they accelerated their export and import.
Research done by Mohamad Irfan, General Secretary of SBMNI.
(This interview was done at the beginning of April 2001 and formerly appeared at www.labourstart.org
Can you give some examples of actions SBMNI has undertaken?
November 9 and 10,2000, we held a two-day strike in the port of Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta. Ten thousand port and transport workers participated. This was the first strike in Indonesia in this sector.
Some of our demands are:
1) The status of permanent worker. Now nobody has a permanent status, we are all contract workers, who can be laid off from one day unto the other.
2) A wage of at least 600,000 rupiah per month (about US$60). A lot of workers only earn 100,000 rp. per month (about US$10!), although the official minimum wage is 400,000 rp. , which is already low.
3) A pension of at least 10,000,000 rp. Now the workers get a one-off pension of 700,000 rp. , even if they have worked here for 30 years. Because of that, older workers prefer to work until they die. Then their wife and children get 2,500,000 rp.
4) Abolition of illegal money for the officers and reform of the port management, to make loading and unloading more efficient. Now the port is rife with corruption. For instance, truckers have to pay at every gate, including taxes, customs, and bribery of the security and the military. If one trucker drives through all the gates, he pays 30,000 rp. in total. Knowing that every day approximately 5,000 truckers pass through, this means a sum of 15,000,000 rp. a day!
5) For the transport workers, a 30% commission on the standard tariff of ORGANDA (the port transport corporations association), with a minimum of 344,000 rp. Now the wage depends on the amount of orders, and accounts only for 17.5 to 25% of the ORGANDA tariff.
6) The establishment of CLA’s. Until this moment, the employers refuse to bargain with us.
7) The rejection of unilateral sacking by the employer.
8) The establishment of a tripartite body. When the government is present, we hope the employers will have abide by government labour regulations.
9) Freedom of association. Employers still do not recognise independent unions and try to destroy them, for instance by firing the shop stewards.
Since the employers rejected all our demands, we plan to hold a second strike on May Day, at the same moment we are organising a big action with several other unions. Our former demands still apply, but now we focus on a few general demands.
1) The abolition of all illegal money collection.
2) Clean up the New Order in the port. (Note: The New Order is the name of the regime of the former dictator Suharto, in this case especially referring to the role of the military and corruption. )
3) Abolish all regulations made by the New Order, because they are detrimental to the workers.
4) Establish a port management that favours the workers.
5) The establishment of CLA’s.
Because the port of Tanjung Priok is the most important port in Indonesia, our strikes can seriously hurt the port companies, and companies that depend on us. We calculated that the previous strike inflicted serious damage on several sectors. For instance, we estimate the loss in textiles at 20 billion rp. and in shipping at 12 billion rp. The total loss inflicted is 1.5 trillion rp., according to our calculations. Indeed, since Tanjung Priok is the biggest international port in Indonesia, we have a strategic position as a union.
In your introductory text, you refer to globalisation and the impact of the WTO, APEC and AFTA on the port workers. Can you explain this a little more?
For example, multinationals can now buy up 100% of state companies for, because of the privatisation drive. In that way, the Hong Kong based British multinational Hutchinson became the biggest shareholder in the Jakarta International Container Terminal. Although the situation before was not ideal either, the state still gave better working conditions. Hutchinson keeps on mechanising and this leads to lay-offs. During the 1980s, there were 12,000 port workers. After the mechanisation only 7,000 workers remain, a reduction by almost a half of the work force.
What about your relations with other unions?
We have good relations with, for instance, GARTEKS of SBSI (Note: the militant garment and textiles sector of probably the best known union of Indonesia), STA of SBSI (Note: transport and loaders and unloaders), FNPBI (Note: the radical union led by Dita Sari), and SPSI-Reformasi (Note: the split-off from the yellow union FSPSI). We are also a part of the Forum Solidaritas Union (FSU), a forum of most of the Indonesian federations, and we have already carried out some joint actions, for example, against the increase in oil prices, somewhat like the actions in Europe last year. On May Day, we have a joint action at the Monas, the national monument. We will put forward some general demands of the workers movement of Indonesia, focusing on the abolition of all labour laws and regulations implemented by the New Order. This includes the freedom to associate and the abolition of all contract work. Our own agenda is related to these big issues.
It is a pity that the working class organisations are still so fragmented into more than 30 unions. This largely derives from the euphoria after the breakdown of the Suharto era. The sense of democracy, linked to the former situation of only one state union, FSPSI, makes for the proliferation of trade unions. In spite of our support for these struggles and organising, we think it is in the interest of the working class that we form a common front in one union. Actually, it is the leaders of the unions that are the biggest obstacle to this. The leadership mostly does not come from a workers’ background, but from the middle class and academic circles. More importantly, there are a lot of petty jealousies, and they do not want to lose their position as leaders.
Nevertheless, there are attempts to unite the unions. One example of this is the already mentioned FSU. In this forum, we try to develop one ethic to remove this unhealthy competition. The companies use this competition between the unions to divide the workers. Competition is damaging to the interests of the class. Therefore, we have draw up a code around which to unite. This code states that members of the FSU should work together to face the employers. It is the task of the unions to socialise this code. The workers want this too, the only problem is the leadership. But there is still a long way to go.
In your opinion, what political strategy should the unions follow?
The unions do not trust the political parties, because they are only interested in power. The political consciousness of the workers is still very low, they are mostly focused on economic questions and the daily struggle. It is a pity, but most of them do not understand politics. They vote for personalities rather than for political programs.
Our union sees the development of political consciousness as one of our main tasks, but we need more time. First we have to unite the unions more. The breakdown of the New Order led to the awakening of the working class. The first step is organisation, increasing the training and education. How to conquer a CLA? How to make a program? How to plan our activities? Those are our current concerns.
Thank you very much for the interview.
The reader has probably noted that SBMNI still works in very unfavourable conditions. So every little bit of international solidarity will give them new strength to accomplish their task.
Their e-mail is: SBMNI@pacific.net.id
Please, do not hesitate to send them your support.
We translate the Indonesian word ‘pekerja’ here with ‘employee’. Before Soeharto the word for ‘worker’ was ‘buruh’. In its fight against everything that sounded left wing, the Indonesian state replaced ‘buruh’ with ‘pekerja’, so the yellow union was not a ‘serikat buruh’, but a ‘serikat pekerja’. When during the 1990s again independent unions were born, they started to use the word ‘buruh’ again.
At the time 1 $ U. S. was approximately 10. 000 rupiah. Now already more then 11.000 rupiah.
