Workers clash with police at adidas sub-contractor’s factory
22/10/2012
"The demonstration was pretty rough because the company management had prepared weapons to hit us with," Kokom Komalawati, chairwoman of the Independent Textile Garment and Footwear Workers Union, told Reuters.
South Jakarta police chief Wahyu Hadiningrat said five workers, six police officers and two students were injured. About 1,800 workers had joined the demonstration.
The PT Panarub Dwikarya Benoa (PTB) factory, which is a subcontractor for an adidas supplier, saw a demonstration in July in which 1,600 workers went on strike and around 900 were sacked over demands for back pay.
Adidas said it would not permit any orders to be placed with the subcontractor until the issue was resolved. "Currently, the adidas Group has no orders with this subcontractor, which acts as an overflow factory for our business partner, PT Panarub. We have therefore reached out to Mizuno, PDB's main international buyer, to secure their support and involvement," it said.
Under adidas workplace standards, the factory is obliged to pay back wages from when the minimum wage was introduced in January 2012, even though PDB obtained a government waiver.
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