2. Map of Ujungberung Area, Bandung City ........................ 28
3. The Map of Bandung City ................................................ 51
4. The Map of Cinambo Indah ............................................. 52
5. The Map of Bunisari ........................................................ 54
6. Hierarchichal Structure of TIC ......................................... 78
7. The Production Process .................................................. 79
8. The Organizational Structure of SPN .............................. 110
9. The Relationship of Structure, Agency, and Social and Personal Context ...................................... 172
xiii ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS USED
ACILS American Center for International Labor Solidarity
BTN Badan Tekstil Nasional, National Textile Body CLA Collective Labor Agreement (Perjanjan Kerja Bersama)
DO Direct observation
DPC Dewan Pimpinan Cabang (Branch Council Leadership)
DPD Dewan Pimpinan Daerah (Regional Council Leadership)
DPRD Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah (Regional Representative Council)
F-1 Factory One
F-2 Factory Two
FGD Focus group discussion
FSPSI Federasi Serikat Pekerja Seluruh Indonesia (All ndonesian Workers' Union Federation)
Grantex Grand Textile Indonesia Corporation, a textile factory established in the 1970s
Jamsostek Jaminan Sosial Tenaga Kerja (Employee Social Security and Insurance Guarantee)
KASBI Kongres Aliansi Serikat Buruh Indonesia (The ndonesian Union Alliance's Congress)
KHL Kebutuhan Hidup Layak (Decent Subsistence Needs)
KI Key informant
xiv LAP Lawe Adya Prima (a spinning mill factory)
NGO Nongovernment organization
PA Perwakilan anggota (workers' representative) PKB Perjanjian Kerja Bersama (Collective Labor Agreement or CLA)
PLN Perusahaan Listrik Negara (State Electricity Company)
PMA Penanaman Modal Asing
PMDN Penanaman Modal Dalam Negeri PO Participant observation PSP Pimpinan Serikat Pekerja (Trade union leadership at the enterprise level)
RT Rukun Tetangga (Neighborhood)
SDC Secondary data collection
SPN Serikat Pekerja Nasional (National Trade Union) SPSI Serikat Pekerja Seluruh Indonesia (All Indonesia Workers' Union)
SPTSK Serikat Pekerja Tekstil Sandang Kulit (The Textile, Cloth, and Leather Trade Union)
SVS Sarana Vida Sejahtera
TFG Textile, footwear, and garment
THR Tunjangan Hari Raya (Lebaran Bonus) TIC PT. Tomenbo Indonesia (Tomenbo Indonesia Corporation)
TMK Toyo Menka Kaisha
TNR Tiga Negeri Raya
xv GLOSSARY
Arisan. Rotating savings associations Bandros. A sweet tidbit made of rice flour Berbakti. Dutiful Borongan. Piece-rate basis Buruh tani. Farm hands or agricultural laborers Caleg. Calon legislative, legislature candidate Daek heug henteu kajeun. Take it or leave it Dalam. Inside Dasar. Literary means. "that is the way people at his or her type are. Depan. Front Dunia Fantasi. A game arena near Ancol, Beach, Jakarta Halus. Refined Harga diri. Dignity Hina. Contemptible Ibadah. Act of devotion to Allah Jaman petrus. Mysterious killers' era Jang Jawa. For Javanese Jilbab/Kerudung. Veil Jumatan. Males praying together for 30 minutes in the mosque every Friday
xvi Karyawan depan. Front staffs Kecamatan. Subdistrict Kelompok arisan. Rotating savings associations Kelompok pengajian. Holy Qur'an recital groups Kelurahan. Administrative village Kepala regu-karu. Group or line leader Kepala seksi-kasi. Supervisor Keterbukaan. Opening up Ketua Rukun Tetangga (RT). Neighborhood chiefs Ketua Rukun Warga (RW). Subhamlet head Koperasi. Cooperative Kredit barang. Goods credit Lebaran. Feast celebrating the end of fasting period. Lurah. Village headman Makelar tanah. Land brokers Pahala. Merit Palawija. Secondary crops after paddy such as corn, cassava, and soybean following rice paddy
Pengajian. Holy Qur'an recital Penghinaan. Insult Perantara. Agent Perantauan. Foreign area Pos yandu. Monthly activity focusing on infants' and mothers' health
xvii Purnawirawan. Retired army officers
Ronda. Night activity where males work in groups and roam the community until early morning to guard the community from thieves and other disturbances
Rujak colek. Peanut-sauced fruit salad Sopan santun. Personal reserve and refinement Tabur bunga. Scattered flowers Universitas Terbuka. Open University Usaha kecil-kecilan. Small business Warung. Small shops
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study In Southeast Asia, the rate of female participation in the urban workforce has remained steadily high over the past decades. Most major Southeast Asian countries reported, for instance, that the percentage of women in the urban workforce increased on the average by 10-15 percent in the decades 1970-1980 (Brydon and Chant 1989, 163), and continued at a similar pace until the 1980-1990 period (Ghosh 2004, 18; Metcalfe 2004, 29). The growth of the female workforce in Singapore and Indonesia, in particular, has been substantial, hovering at around 20 percent during the three-decade period from 1970 to 2000 (Metcalfe 2004, 30). These figures demonstrate the greater involvement of women in the Southeast Asian labor force during the latter half of the 20 th century and have placed women as important actors in the process of industrialization in the region (Horton 1996). Light export industries in Asia such as textiles, garments, and electronics rely heavily on young and relatively unskilled women factory workers for manpower (ibid.; Kim 1996). In these low-wage, low-status, and low-security manufacturing jobs women workers usually make up the majority of the employees. This situation coincides with the shift of manufacturing production from developed countries to developing countries which provide cheap and abundant labor (Kim 1996; Safa 1981). Such is the Indonesian situation:
2 Large scale, factory-based export production has, in general, meant a distinct feminization of the industrial workforce. Thus, for example, garment factories actually released male sewing-machine operators and took on new female workers as they shifted to export production. (White 1993, 132 cited in Silvey 2003, 134)
The preference of employers for female workers is due to local and foreign assumptions about women's manual dexterity, acceptance of low wages, and their relative docility (Hadiz 1997; Kim 1996; Mather 1983 and Lok 1993 cited in Silvey 2003, 134-135; Safa 1981; Wolf 1999). However, stereotypes about women's manual dexterity, compliance with authority, and patience for monotonous work have been challenged by those who argue that these views vary across places and within groups of women in these places (Porpora, Lim, and Prommas 1989 cited in Silvey 2003, 135; Wolf 1999). In Thailand, for example, women workers are more militant than their male counterparts (Mills 2005; Porpora, Lim, and Prommas 1989 cited in Silvey 2003). In the 1990s, meanwhile, industrial life in Tangerang area, Indonesia was dominated by strikes and demonstrations where women stood at the forefront of labor activism (Hadiz 1997). In 1991, 70 percent of all strikes in Indonesia took place in the Jakarta area, "with its largely in-migrant, often female workforce (White 1993 cited in Silvey 2003, 136) and labor unrests concentrated in the garment, textile, and footwear establishments (Hadiz 1997). Hadiz adds that, "female workers tend to be more active and outspoken than their male counterparts (ibid., 122). Note that those who played central roles in strikes were not only women, but also migrant women (Silvey
3 2003, 136). Thus, in contemporary labor relations in Indonesia, women workers, and in particular migrant workers, are far from docile (Andriyani 1996; Hadiz 1997). However, the relation between women and labor activism is far from simple. Elmhirst (2004, 399) suggests that, "female worker militancy cannot be seen as universal within ndonesian labor relations. Militancy varies across places and within groups of women in these places (Silvey 2003). Elmhirst (2004) has also found, for example, that despite the labor activism of migrant women in Tangerang during the 1990s, young female migrant workers from Lampung, another Indonesian cit y, remained inactive. Silvey (2003) also points out that women in Bekasi or "Jowo village are more militant than women in Rancaekek or "Sunda village. 1
Since Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi, and Rancaekek are marked by the increasing flow of a female migrant workforce from outside the province and indeed from outside Java itself, it is not surprising that some studies have also shown the connection between gender and ethnicity in labor activism (Elmhirst 2004; Saptari 1995; Silvey 2003; Wolf 1999). For instance, Elmhirst's (2004) study shows that the roles of being a responsible daughter and maintaining ties with rural kin and peers appear to have an effect on Lampung women's militancy as workers. Meanwhile, Kim's (1996) study among women workers in South Korea highlights another factor, namely, marital status, in understanding women workers' militancy. Kim explains that married women seem to be less militant than single women.
1 Bekasi and Rancaekek are in West Java. Bekasi city lies within the Jabotabek area and Rancaekek is just outside the city of Bandung.
4 Beyond these factors lies the importance of social networks. Silvey's (2000 cited in Elmhirst 2004) study on migrant social networks in a South Sulawesi industrial area reveals, for example, that the ability to fall back on parental contributions of ricean indicator of family tiesmeant that women are able to risk unemployment by engaging in labor protests. To take another example, Saptari's (forthcoming) study of biscuit factory Mayora's strike in Tangerang shows that financial support from family enables workers to engage in a long period of strike. They use these funds to retain rented lodgings and to buy food. On a broader conceptual level, gender, ethnicity, marital status, and social networks can be seen as sources of identity. dentity can be defined as "the perceived social location of the individual (Stone 1962 cited in Charon 1998, 87). These "identities, according to Peter Burke (1980 cited in Charon 1998, 87) represent "a source of motivation for labor activism. Therefore, an understanding of identity among women workers, which includes their reasons for getting involved (or uninvolved) in labor activism, is very important in assessing the growing militancy of women workers in factories. Identities are explained in context, one of which is the condition of the labor market. In Indonesia, for example, the prolonged economic crises that destroyed many local and foreign investments have also contributed to an increase in unemployment rates (Muhamad 2002). In 2003, the rate of unemployment went beyond 10 percent of Indonesian workforces or around 10.13 million people (Bappenas, 2003 cited in Bisnis Indonesia, 30 September 2003). Within a context of
5 high unemployment, jobs are hard to get and to maintain. To some extent this condition discourages labor protests, as workers will tend to be more compliant with the management's policies in order to keep the jobs. Meanwhile, other factors such as state labor policies, the changing politics of labor organi zing, and strong labor unions and NGOs appear to contribute to the growth of militancy among workers (Ford 2003; Hadiz 1997). Thus, despite the unstable labor market, many workers still engage in public demonstrations in order to revise ndonesia's labor policy to enable them to get a higher bargaining position in the workplace. This also suggests that identity as a labor protester can change depending on the situation. Even within structural constraints, "people reconstruct their own identities . . . people reshape the social structures that restrict them (Woodward 2000 cited in Haralambos and Holborn 2004, 821), in this case, through collective action. The following section explains the problem of this study.
Statement of the Problem Many studies cite macro-level factors such as state labor policies, the changing politics of labor organizing, and the role of trade unions and NGOs for causing militant protest. However, a few studies focus on the workers' sources of identity as key elements in determining labor activism among women workers. Thus, this study seeks to learn how sources of identity, some ascribed and others achieved, shape women workers' identities and mobilize them to be labor activists or non-activists.
6 The understanding of a particular industrial area or context is also important since the militancy of women workers varies across areas and within groups of women in these areas. Previous studies on labor militancy among women workers in Indonesia were made in the Jabotabek 2 area, known as a seat of labor unrest. Only a few studies focused on areas that lack such militancy (Silvey 2003), as indicated by the number of strikes per year, the number of people who were involved in the strikes, and the duration of strikes (ibid.). This study investigates women workers' activism in one factory in the Ujungberung Area, Bandung City, which is an area that has the least overt militancy. This study argues that structural constraints that ar e more pronounced in a low militancy area are not enough to explain the variation in the degree of militancy among women workers. Even within structural constraints, some women workers can shape their identities as labor activists through taking collective and individual actions. They also reshape, to some extent, social structures that limit them (Woodward 2000). Therefore, to understand women workers' activism, research must look not only into structural constraints but also to the women themselves, particularly their sources of identity, which may promote or constrain their involvement in labor activism. The Ujungberung area is also colored by an influx of migrants from areas within and outside Java Island who belong to various ethnic groups. Many studies have viewed women workers as a homogenous category despite their varying ethnic backgrounds and places of origin. This study focuses on female migrant and non-
2 Jabotabek stands for Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi City.
7 migrant workers from Sundanese and non-Sundanese ethnic groups. Specifically, this research attempts to answer the following questions: 1. What are the forms of labor activism in an area with a relatively low level of militancy? 2. What sources of identity are important in understanding the women workers' involvement in labor activism? 3. Under what conditions are women workers' identities mobilized?
Objectives of the Study In general, the research aims to examine the relation between sources of identity and labor activism among women factory workers in a low-level militancy industrial area. Specifically, the research attempts to: 1. describe the nature of labor activism in the Ujungberung area, Bandung City, an area that lacks militancy compared to other industrial centers in West Java; 2. describe the forms of labor activism in a factory where a substantial percent of its workers are women; 3. describe how various factors shape women's identities as factory workers; 4. identify the dominant sources of identity that influence their decision to engage (or not engage) in labor activism; 5. identify various conditions in which women workers' identities are mobilized; and
8 6. make a recommendation for improving women workers' condition in the factories.
Significance of the Study The study is an attempt to provide a better understanding of the origins of labor activism, specifically on how sources of identity lead women workers into a certain kind of militancy. The use of the concept of identity enables us to understand and explain the reasons why women workers participate actively (or inactively) in labor activism, particularly in a low-level militancy area where its social structure appears to limit women's involvement in labor activism. This understanding is very useful for labor unions, specifically those whose members are mostly women, in their quest to improve their labor-organizing strategies. The research is also an attempt to contribute to the literature on women labor studies, specifically by showing how sources of identity shape women workers' militancy.
Scope and Limitations of the Study The study covers only one trade union at the enterprise level in the industrial center of Ujungberung area in the city of Bandung of West Java, Indonesia. The study also limits its investigation to female workers in one factory. Moreover, since the study focuses on sources of identity, other factors related to labor activism such as the role of labor unions and state labor policy will only receive minimal attention.
9 Review of Related Literature The next section presents related literature on women's subordinate position in the industry and the general increase in women's involvement in labor activism. These are followed by a discussion of the concept of identity and the link between identity and labor activism among women workers.
Women in the industry Various attempts to explain women's subordinate position in industry have focused their role in the family and the associated patriarchal ideology (Beechey 1979 cited in Saptari 2000; Eviota 1992, 15). In general, industries do not favor a female workforce because their domestic roles often impede their ability to take a certain job. This tendency is consistent with the notion of female marginalization, where women are excluded from certain types of production because of domestic obligations (Brydon and Chant 1989, 168). As a result, women are left to enter 'traditional' and/or labor-intensive industries such as textile production, garment making, food processing, and assembly electronics (Brydon and Chant 1989; Hadiz 1997; Kim 1996; Safa 1981; Wolf 1999). In Mexico, for instance, one-third of women industrial workers are employed in the clothing trade, and a further fifth in the food industry (LACWE 1980 cited in Brydon and Chant 1989, 169). The feminization of workforces in low-skilled jobs and labor-intensive industries relates to several factors. One factor is related to decision making by management that usually reverts to sex stereotypes of women as having patience
10 for tedious jobs, nimble fingers, and visual acuity, and the way in which women's domestic roles impinge upon their ability to take on certain jobs, especially those that require overtime. However, a far more adequate explanation lies in the higher profit that can be extracted from female labor owing to low wages (Brydon and Chant 1989; Elson and Person 1981 cited in Safa 1981; Eviota 1986; Lee 1993; Kim 1996). Furthermore, gender-segregated job allocation necessarily produces gender hierarchy in authority relations (Lee 1993, 513). All women are under the authority of male supervisors and managers. In their superordinate roles, men demand high productivity and control women production workers. Thus, women workers are subjected to patriarchal domination as well as capitalist domination (ibid., 513-514). In addition, Eviota (1992, 90) points out, "while women and men are both displaced in times of recessions and crises...it has been largely the case that women are relatively more expendable either because they are in positions which are lower skilled or because they are seen as a secondary workforce. She also explains that during capitalist expansion, the women workforce laid off is usually replaced by younger women (ibid.). It is not the case for men, as those who are laid off are generally rehired. The light-manufacturing industries generally prefer young, single women with no previous work experience rather than experienced workers who command higher wages. Wolf's study (1999, 149) in Central Java, ndonesia also points out that most firms prefer young single females because they are cheaper to hire than married ones. In turn, older, married workers are displaced even during periods of full
11 employment (Wong 1986, 213). The reasons for this preference vary, but generally younger women are considered to be more docile and more productive, that is, more committed to a strong work ethic than older women. Older workers are also more likely to be married and burdened with family duties (Safa 1981, 429). The commitment of a married woman to her husband, particularly to her children, tends to disrupt a steady work attendance. However, Kim's (1996, 559-560) study in South Korea shows that only big companies prefer single women. Lower paying industries such as garment and shoe factories employ significant numbers of married women workers. At least two advantages accrue to the company by employing married women: married women do not change jobs easily and they do not complain about overtime work. In fact, since they come to work primarily to earn money, they welcome overtime (ibid.). These reasons are often interrelated and have differing degrees of applicability in different situations. As Scott (1986, 673 cited in Brydon and Chant 1989, 171) notes: Gender plays a role in structuring labour markets, not just as cheap labor, but as subordinate labour, docile labour, immobile labour, sexual labour and so on. Thus it is not just dimensions of marginalization that need to be distinguished, but dimensions of gender. The use made of these different aspects by employers extends far beyond pressure on wage.
Women and labor activism A remarkable feature of contemporary labor activism among factory workers in Indonesia has been the increasing militancy of women workers (Hadiz 1997;
12 Saptari 1995). This surge of labor activism over the past few years comes simultaneously with the increase of women's participation in paid areas of employment (Walby 1997). However, the relation between women workers and labor activism is problematic. Some studies of women factory workers have focused on the connection between women's labor activism (or the lack of it) and different women's home-based priorities, both economic and sociocultural (Elmhirst 2004; Rowbotham 1972 cited in Berger 1983; Rutten 2000; Wolf 1990). The interaction between the women's position in the family (as mothers or as daughters) and gender interests are among the most significant factors that intersect with, and shape, their subjectivities as workers (Elmhirst 2004; Wolf 1999) and contributes to the complexity in understanding women's labor activism. Wolf (1991), for example, explains that parental influence and a desire to be a 'devoted daughter' have become important factors in suppressing young women workers' resistance in Central Java. Meanwhile, other studies have shown that older women are unwilling to engage in labor activism because it can jeopardize their family income (Tjandraningsih 1995; Kim 1996; Symth and Grijns 1997). Rowbotham (1972 cited in Berger 1983, 49) suggests that "the particular relationship of the woman to reproduction and consumption within the family mediated her relationship to commodity production, thereby making women less liable to organize. Outside the household's concerns, family networks may also influence a woman's decision to engage in labor activism (Elmhirst 2004; Silvey 2003). To cite
13 an example, Elmhirst's (2004, 404) study of female factory workers from North Lampung shows that: A heightened sense of cultural difference among Lampung women in the context of economic crisis is being forged through practices associated with the maintenance of ties with their rural kin and peers. This has had the effect of drawing these women away from wider network of labor activists, and has cemented a sense of their distinctly Lampung identity in ways that appear to undermine solidarity with fellow workers.
However, Elmhirst suggests that this process should not be interpreted as representing a lack of female agency or unformed worker consciousness among women. Rather, the process points "to the ways that female workers' identities are multifarious, fractured and contradictory, and all of which have potential implications for women militancy as workers (ibid.). Furthermore, Elmhirst explains that the sense of common origin, common identity, and difference of migrant Lampung women workers from other workers does not appear to subside, even after a period of several months in Tangerang (2004, 396). Elmhirst also points out the significance of women workers' communitiesthe social groups or associations in which factory workers participate and the inter-household community networks in and around factory areasin shaping women workers' activism. All these discussions show the importance of settings upon which women are able to express their militancy as workers. As mentioned above social, networks as well as gender and ethnicity also play important roles in shaping women's activism. n the context of migration studies, social networks, as Massey and other authors define (1993, 448 cited in Silvey 2003,
14 145), are "sets of interpersonal ties that link migrants, former migrants, and non- migrants in origin and destination areas through the bonds of kinship, friendship and shared community origin. Social capital literature refers to these ties as either "bonding social capital, defined as ties to people with similar demographic characteristics such as family members, neighbors, close friends, and work colleagues, or "bridging social capital, defined as ties to people with dissimilar demographic characteristics and usually formed in associations or organizations (Gittel and Vidal 1998 cited in Grootaert et al. 2004, 4; Narayan 2002; and Woolcock 2002 cited in Abad 2006). Furthermore, the idea of bonding social capital is synonymous with "strong ties, while bridging social capital is represented by "weak ties 3 (Abad 2006). Only a few labor studies have focused deeply on social networks as factors in labor activism (Elmhirst 2004; Silvey 2003). This is unfortunate since social networks may both constrain and enable participation in labor activism. In other words, social networks may ensure the attainment of jobs and discourage labor activism. Social networks may also imply 'kinship obligation' (Smith 1978 cited in Saptari and Elmhirst 2004, 38) as kin-based networks may also place certain moral restrictions to the movement of particularly young unmarried women (ibid.). In this instance, strong ties deter labor activism. In contrast, following Putnam's (1973) and
3 ". . . 'Strong ties' are contacts to people characterized by high levels of emotional intensity and intimacy, and 'weak ties' are contacts to people not necessarily characterized by high levels of emotional intensity and intimacy (Granovetter 1973 cited in Abad 2006).
15 Granovetter's (1985) ideas, overlapping "weak ties are more critical than intense personal ties in sustaining collective action (cited in Ahn and Ostrom 2003, xxii). Moreover, in this study ethnicity is defined as "a shared cultural heritage. Having common origin, common kinship, and language is a basis for people to define themselves or others as members of a particular ethnic group. It confers a distinctive social identity (Elmhirst 2004; Macionis 2003). Women's labor activism varies across places. A large proportion of labor unrest in Indonesia, for example, has taken place in the industrial areas of the so- called Jabotabek area in West Java, Indonesia, the site of the greatest concentration of export-oriented factories (Hadiz 1997). As there has been a gradual spread of export-oriented production to new locations, there has also been a correspondingly wider geographical spread of industrial unrest (ibid.). Silvey (2003), for instance, shows that while labor unrest has occurred in the Rancaekek region of West Java, also an industrial center, the level of unrest in this area is lower compared to that in the Jabotabek area. The reason, Silvey points out, is that people in Rancaekek are dominated by the Sundanese, who are relatively embedded in local, family-based social relations, while in Bekasi (part of Jabotabek area) people's migration and exchange networks are more spatially extensive. According to Silvey (2003, 147), people in Sunda emphasized the importance of these local, family-based networks in terms of their gender ideologies and these networks weaken women's strike activity. Thus, networks appear to have a distinctive influence in labor activism.
16 The Ujungberung area in Bandung City shares similar characteristics with the Rancaekek region in that both places have low levels of labor unrest compared to the levels found in other industrial centers such as the Jabotabek area. Bandung City is dominated by Sundanese culture. Here, migrants are encouraged to adjust to the local culture (Bruner 1974). Failure to do so means that the migrants will be "rejected by the local community (Setia 2005) and this rejection may either spur or repress migrant workers' involvement in labor activism. One type of adjustment is the operating restriction on female behavior. Mather's (1985) work in the Tangerang region, West Java shows that male religious leaders who act as labor agents have been successful in exercising both the authority of their gender and that of the formal ideology to secure a docile and submissive labor force, especially women. In her study, patriarchal values subordinating women and youngsters are promoted through mosques, prayer houses, schools, and other institutions with reference to Islamic scriptures and practices. These values have also been able to domesticate young female migrants who tend to be more outspoken than their local counterparts. Some migrants also understand how being bonded to a labor agent restrains them from taking the action they want to. Yusuf's (1991) study in West Java also describes a similar situation. Here the local authorities pay more attention to female migrant workers, especially young unmarried women, in terms of their relations with the opposite sex. This special attention is related to female migrant workers' role as the source of labor in the factory near the community. The controls that factory
17 management imposes on the women workers occur beyond the workplace in order to ensure a "fresh labor supply. The management uses informal channels such as local authorities to do the controlling, and the local authorities use local "norms to justify their actions. To some extent, these controls may affect migrant women's decision to engage in labor activism. In this research, labor activism is understood as actions by a worker (or workers) to resist unfair treatment and unsafe industrial regulations, and to protect and to improve working and living conditions. This definition is inspired by the early definition of Rutten (2000) in her study about activism in a Philippine plantation region. She defines labor activism as "a sensible strategy to defend and improve the income and living conditions of their households, as they sought to raise wages, improve housing, enforce coverage by the state's social security system and medicare, and safeguard stable employment (ibid., 215). The forms of labor activism will be distinguished into overt, organized, and often large-scale resistance (e.g., participation in strikes, demonstrations 4 ) and the daily, often covert or 'hidden' forms of resistance (e.g., individual slowdown) (Saptari 1995, 213). This broader coverage of labor activism is parallel with longstanding feminist efforts to redefine politics, which traditionally have been stressed as limited
4 A strike is defined as a collective work stoppage in a single enterprise in pursuit of common goals (Kemman 1997 cited in Perry 2005, 4). A demonstration is defined as a collective protest that often takes place in public spaces such as the center of government.
18 to the realm of formal organizations such as trade unions and on big events like strikes (Andriyani 1996). The idea that activism is part of a household strategy suggests that collective action is only one option that a woman worker may consider. Finding out why and when women workers do opt for activism and the way they combine it with other types of action may give further insight into the considerations that motivate or constrain it (ibid.). Within the context of labor market instability the workers will not easily endanger their jobs unless the high costs they incur are matched by high rewards (Popkin 1972 cited in Rutten 2000). The workers are more liable to engage in labor activism that will not jeopardize their sole source of income. In addition, participation in overt labor activism requires contributions in money, goods, and manpower that have to be accommodated somehow by the activists' households and these costs may set the limits to labor activism (Rutten 2000, 217). Therefore, labor activism also entails the need for survival. This study is an attempt to provide a better appreciation of women factory workers' activism by showing how sources of identity factor in a woman' s decision to be a labor activist or a non-activist. Some researches have focused on how identities and the interests embedded in these identities take part in labor activism's agenda. Only a few of these studies, however, deal in-depth with the situation of women workers' identities and the influence of networks to the sources of identity.
19 The concept of identity As mentioned earlier, the concept of identity is important in understanding the degree of militancy among women migrant factory workers. It can be used to understand women workers themselves and their community. Furthermore, through sources of identity, this study aims to understand the reasons for women workers' decision to be active or non-active labor protesters. What is identity? How will it be used in this study? Identity is a part of a persona or self-concept. Through social interaction identities are formed, maintained, and changed (Charon 1998, 161). Thus, identities are highly responsive to the social context (Burke 1980 cited in Hogg, Terry and White 1995, 265). Moreover, Peter Burke (1980, 18 cited in Charon 1998, 87) points out that identities are not only relational or social placed in a context of interaction but "are a source of motivation for action. For instance, " am a mother! That is important to me! Like many other mothers must take care of my children (Charon 1998). According to Hogg and Abrams, "a social identity is a person's knowledge that he or she belongs to a social category or group (1988 cited in Stets and Burke 2000, 225). This definition parallels the one offered by Gregory Stone, who describes identity as "the perceived social location of the individual: where one is 'situated' in relation to others, who one tells the self one is, and in his or her actions, the name one tries to communicate with others (cited in Charon 1998, 87). For Charon, "identity is the name we call ourselves, and usually it is the name we
20 announce to others that we are as we act in situations. dentities are labels used, not by all others, but by the reference groups and significant others 5 of the individual (Charon 1998, 87). Moreover, the concept of identity allows people to understand their environment, and it enables people to understand themselves in the environment (ibid., 86). There are different types of identities, 6 some of which are important and central to the individual; others are not very important and are easily changed (ibid., 88). Recall that identities are the way we identify and present ourselves in situations (ibid., 161). According to Goodenough, "a person's identity is fabricated from his and other's perception of relevant characteristics or features of the person that make him like or unlike others (1963 cited in Robbins 1973, 1206). These relevant features comprise identity dimensions such as age, sex, ethnic group membership, social rank (executive, laborer), and so on (Wallace 1967 cited in Robbins 1973, 1206). In sum, not all identities matter. However, some may matter almost all the time. Identities matter in what people do and in what people try to communicate to others (Charon 1998, 161). The modern conception of identity states that, "people's identities were seen as fairly stable, as widely shared within social groups, and as based upon one or two
5 Charon (1998, 74) defines significant others as "the individuals who are important in our self-understanding.
6 Stone distinguishes three types of identity. The first type is basic such as age and sex. The second is general, such as priest or father. The third is independent, such as part-time employee (cited in Charon 1998, 88).
21 key variables such as class (Haralambos and Holborn 2004, 793). Meanwhile, the postmodern concept suggests that "people's identity have many different facets, that they frequently change and can contain considerable contradictions (ibid.). As Hall (cited in ibid., 822) states, "people no longer possess a single, unified conception of who they are, but instead possess 'several, sometimes contradictory or unresolved, identities.' To the postmodernist, people actively create their own identities. People can also shape and sometimes change their identities. n this sense, people's identities are relatively fluid. Meanwhile, Kath Woodward introduces a more integrated analysis of identity. She addresses the importance of structures as well as individual choice in asserting people's identity. Woodward recognizes that some people experience difficulties in adopting identities that they would like to have because of structural constraints. However, she also acknowledges that even within structural constraints, some people are still able to assert their identities and reshape the social structures that restrict them (2000 cited in Haralambos and Holborn 2004, 819-821). Moreover, Woodward also stresses that gender is important in understanding identity. She says, "Our sense of who we are is most significantly linked to our awareness of our identity as women and men and the structure of gender is an important structure which places constraints on individual choices. However, Bradley argues, "While gender is a crucial source of identity, its interactions with other sources of identity are very important (1997 cited in Haralambos and Holborn 2004, 829).
22 Following Woodward's and Bradley's concept, this study sees identity as something formed through "a combination of individual agency and structural constraint. The study examines how structural constraints such as gender limit women workers participation in labor activism and the ways they challenge and reshape social structures that restrict them. In this study, gender, a crucial source of identity, is seen in its interactions with a variety of other identity sources such as ethnicity, age, marital status, and social networks. Therefore, this concept is instrumental in examining the degree of militancy among women factory workers.
Identity and labor activism Ethnicity, age, and gender are very central to the identity of individuals. Hekman (1999) calls them "hyper-identities or ascribed identities, identities that individuals cannot choose to reject because they were born into them. These sources of identity have been shown to exert a strong influence on women's activism (Elmihirst 2004; Silvey 2003). Another source of ascribed identity is family social networks or those sets of ties women workers have with kin in a community where they live (or at a place of destination and origin for migrants). Note that although these sources of identity are ascribed, their expression or practice will be shaped largely by the social context of the women workers' lives. n other words, family social networks are ascribed in the sense that blood ties are given, but these are achieved in the sense that strong ties need to be worked at.
23 In addition, another source of identity is marital status, which is a type that one acquires in the context of social interaction. This source of identity for a woman worker is achieved rather than ascribed. Some studies have shown the connection between marital status and labor market. Kim (1996) and Wolf's (1999) work, for instance, shows that companies prefer to employ young single women than older and married women. Older and married women are usually hired in lower-paying industries and subcontracting factories and paid less than younger women. The lives of married women workers embodied an uncomfortable series of contradictions. They worked because their families had a real financial need for their income. On the one hand, they were overwhelmed with guilt for failing to meet the social expectations of being fulltime wives and mothers. At the same time they experienced severe discrimination in the workforce. (Kim 1996, 563)
These contradictions reveal the complicated relation between married women workers and labor activism. Therefore marital status has become an important aspect in understanding the level of married women workers' militancy. All these factors are interrelated in a very dynamic way (Elmhirst 2004, Saptari 1995, Silvey 2003, Smyth and Grijns 1997, Wolf 1999) as social identities are formed, maintained, and changed in the process of social interaction (Charon 1998, 161). This process focuses on female workers acting in the context of social structures, such as being a mother or daughter, and so on. Out of the interaction emerge meanings in the form of expectations with regard to others' and one's own behaviors. However, "all aspects of identity are not equal: some are frivolous and inconsequential, while others are all-pervasive and life-altering (Hekman 1999, 22).
24 n Setia's (2005, 140-141) study, one's identity as a labor activist is deemed incompatible with the identity as father and husband. His role as breadwinner and pressures from the family (wife and mother-in-law) force him to move away from labor activism so he will not jeopardize his access to much-needed family income and his marriage. Therefore, an understanding of workers' identities, particularly among women workers, can be a basis to explain the sustainability of labor movement, since women have played an important role in labor activism. In the context of working in the factory, some of these identities assert themselves. These asserted identities are said to affect labor activism. According to Stets and Burke (2000, 231), "to examine the likelihood that an identity will be activated across many situations, researchers must consider factors such as the fit of identity to the situation (the stimuli present in the situation that fit the characteristics of the identity) as well as the individual's structural embeddedness or commitment.
Analytical Framework In this study, the formation of identity involves both agency and soci al structure (Woodward 2000). Social structures are seen as the set of arrangements prevailing in the family, community, and factory condition as a whole that both enable and constrain labor activism (Giddens 1984, 169 cited in Wolf 1990, 46). In the context of labor activism in Indonesia, structures of gender are seen as one of the important structural constraints that prevent women workers from
25 adopting their identities as labor activists. Nevertheless, some women workers shape their social structures and reconstruct their own identities which allow them to participate in labor activism (Woodward 2000). In this study, structures of gender are analyzed through their connections with other sources of identity such as ethnicity, age, marital status, migration status, and social networks. Although these sources of identity can be analyzed separately, in practice they interact with each other in a very dynamic way and all have potential implications for women's militancy as workers (Bradley 1997 cited in Haralambos and Holborn 2004; Elmhirst 2004). Labor activism, in turn, is defined as actions by a worker (or workers) to resist unfair treatment and unsafe industrial regulations, to protect and to improve working and living conditions (Rutten 2000). Labor activism can be seen through actual involvement in overt, organized, and often large-scale actions such as stoppage or non-stoppage strikes, demonstrations, and dialogues or collective negotiations with employers. The daily or covert forms of action are also taken into consideration as part of labor activism (Saptari 1995, 213; Andriyani 1996). It is indicated by the acts of slowdown, avoidance, gossip, and the like. Using an index of these factors, the study classifies a female worker as activist and non-activist in terms of the degree of participation in the labor union and the factory floor. Being active in the labor union can be seen through participation in union and employer meetings, labor training seminars, demonstrations, and strikes in the past year. Being active on the factory floor, meanwhile, can be seen through asserting production problems to immediate
26 supervisors, and talking about workplace-based issues with fellow workers, accompanied by gossip, slowdown, and avoidance actions (Andriyani 1996). Labor activism in this study transcends its standard definitions which often stress strategies such as confrontation and violent action, failing to take into account the more collaborative strategies of dialogue, accommodation, and persuasion to assert the interests and needs of workers without jeopardizing their livelihood and production process in the factory. The following analytical framework (see figure 1) provides the basis for analysis and interpretation. It consists of three main points that are important to the formation of identity of women factory workers, namely: social structure, individual agency, and sources of identity. Familiarity with the social structure will help explain the context in which sources of identity (both ascribed and achieved) are embedded.
Research Methodology This section describes the study's research design, research site, sources of data, selection of key informants, data-gathering techniques, and data analysis.
Research design A descriptive case study design is applied in this research. It seeks to find out how sources of identity that are embedded in social structures trigger women factory workers to get involved (or uninvolved) in labor activism in a low-level militancy area.
27 Research site
The study was conducted in a Japanese-owned spinning mill in the Ujungberung area, the city of Bandung in the West Java province, Indonesia (see figure 2). The factory was chosen not because of its nature of ownership (Japanese ownership) but for other reasons. First, it is dominated by female workers who are the subject of this study. And second, these women workers have a relatively higher level of participation in labor union activities compared to other factories in the Ujungberung area.
FIGURE 1 ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK
Individual agency The formation of women workers' identities The degree of involvement in labor activism (highly active or less active labor protesters) Structures of gender in factory, family, and community, including labor union Sources of identity: Ascribed Age, ethnicity Achieved marital status, migration status Both gender roles, social networks
28 Ujungberung has been purposively selected owing to several considerations. First, it is one of the centers of the garment and textile industry in West Java that is known as a low-level militancy area. It is also the destination of choice for migrant workers from various regions in Indonesia, particularly migrants from West Java, Sumatra, Central Java, and East Java (Bruner 1974). Moreover, because the Sundanese culture is very prominent in Bandung, migrants, especially those who belong to non-Sundanese ethnic groups, are expected to adjust to the local culture. Therefore, ethnicity may color the degree of women migrants' activism.
FIGURE 2 MAP OF UJUNGBERUNG AREA, BANDUNG CITY
29 Sources of data Data were collected from four sources: key informants (KIs), written documents, participant observation, and focus group discussion (FGD). The KIs provided data about women workers' experiences in the factory and in the community, their perception of labor activism and factors that underlie their decision to engage (or not engage) in strikes and demonstrations, labor trainings, and so on. Data on population, industrial, and ethnicity characteristics were collected through written documents and completed with interviews with the elders of the community, subdistrict, and village administrative officers and the factory managers. Participant observation was conducted to get a better picture of the female workers' activities and their position in labor union and labor activism. The researcher participated in two annual minimum wage increase strikes held in the center of province government and the Bandung City Hall, union meetings, and a public hearing on education issues initiated by Serikat Pekerja Nasional (SPN) in order to get the actual picture of women's activism in these activities. FGD was conducted to get a preliminary data on women workers' activism in the household, community, and workplace.
Selection of key informants The KIs consist of women workers from three ethnic backgrounds (Sundanese, Javanese, and Batak) in the 25-44 age range 7 who work in a
7 In 1990 and 2000, there was a higher female participation rate in the 20-24 and 25-44 age ranges (Metcalfe 2004, 33).
30 Japanese-owned spinning mill; male workers; labor organizers; the factory managers; the elders of community; a subdistrict officer; and the village headman. Interviews with factory workers from various factories in the Ujungberung area completed the data. These informants were chosen to provide comprehensive information about the nature of social relations in the community, industrial conditions, and labor activism in the Ujungberung area. The research mostly relied, however, on data gathered from young female factory workers who are activists and non-activists, since they dominate the light-manufacturing industries. The key informants were identified through snowball sampling. It started from a women labor organizer in the regional level and continued to organizers and workers at the enterprise level union. The data was gathered from 35 KIs. 8 It consisted of ten female workers from a Japanese-owned spinning mill; eight female workers from a Chinese-owned spinning mill; one female worker from a textile factory; six male factory workers from two factories; two female organizers at the Regional Council Leadership (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah or DPD) of West Java and two male organizers at the Branch of Council Leadership (Dewan Perwakilan Cabang or DPC) of Bandung City; two elders of community; two factory managers; a subdistrict officer; and a village headman. This research focuses on the experience of ten female factory workers and an ex-female factory worker who was able to achieve the top executive position in
8 Names of key informants were changed.
31 union at the enterprise level. These women workers belong to the same factory. Of ten women workers, six (activists) participate actively in covert and overt actions, both inside and outside the factory, whereas the remaining four (non-activists) are rarely involved in labor activism (see table 1). The research ended until the additional KIs no longer yielded much new insight.
TABLE 1
TYPE AND NUMBER OF KEY INFORMANTS, BY PLACE OF ORIGIN AND ETHNIC GROUP
Female factory workers Total Place of origin Total Ethnic Group Local Non-local Non-Sundanese Sundanese Activist 6 1 5 6 3 3 Non-activist 4 1 3 4 2 2 Total 10 2 8 10 5 5
Data-gathering techniques The life history methodology was appropriate in this research since the research problem involved an investigation of the ways in which women workers accounted for their actions (Jones 1989). It was conducted on women worker activists and non-activists. Two basic forms of account are suitable for life history analysis. The first is in the form of autobiographies, diaries, records, and correspondence. The second is in the form of data generated through in-depth interviews (Filstead 1970 and Bogdan 1974 cited in Jones 1989, 152).
32 Since materials for the first form were unavailable, the researcher focused on in-depth interviews. However, other data-gathering techniques such as participant observation (PO), direct observation (DO), and secondary data collection (SDC), were also employed. PO and DO were useful in observing the actual activities of women workers in the union and workplace as well as the conditions of the people and community. The detailed data sets as well as the techniques used to obtain the data are shown in table 2.
Data Analysis The data are analyzed qualitatively, particularly those gathered through in- depth interviews. The result of the research is presented descriptively and is interpreted according to the analytical framework. In this sense, the particular phenomena are analyzed to arrive at general principles (Arce 2001, 99-100). In turn, the life history that was gathered through in-depth interviews is used to describe the experience of women factory workers in the workplace, the community and the family and the way sources of identity relate to labor activism. An indicator of women's involvement in labor activism is seen in terms of frequency of participating in labor union activities (overt actions) inside and outside the workplace and in the daily activities (covert actions) in the factory floor. Related information such as their perceptions of labor activism as well as their ethnic differences, migration status, social networks, marital status, gender roles as breadwinner, mother or daughter, and their relation with other members of
33 the community are analyzed within the various social structural contexts such as workplace, community, family, and industrial conditions. The situations after the opening up and legalization of freedom of association in 2001 as well as labor market conditions are briefly discussed in order to explain the larger context of labor activism in Indonesia.
TABLE 2 RESEARCH TOPICS, DATA SETS, DATA SOURCES, AND DATA-GATHERING TECHNIQUES
Research topic
Data set
Data source Data- gathering technique I. Aspects of the social structure
x Community condition A. Geographical data location: boundaries, land use, land and establishment ownership, housing patterns and development, public services availability, map location B. Demographic data: structure of residents based on gender, age, labor force, religion, marital status, and place of origin Village records, subdistrict records, subdistrict officer, village headman
DO, SDC, interview x Industrial condition A. Industrial data: Number of firms in Ujungberung Size of firms Number of employees (male & female, permanent & temporary) Market orientation (local, national, international) Types of products B. Industrial relation in the unstable labor market: Number of strikes Forms of collective bargaining Dispute settlement Labor law implementation Subdistrict records, village records, TU records, subdistrict officer, village headman, factory workers, labor organizers PO, DO, SDC, ID
34 Table 2Continued
Research topic
Data set
Data source Data- gathering technique x Socioeconomic context of community
Socioeconomic data: socioeconomic status (income, education, property ownership, occupation, etc.), main source of livelihood, proportion of formal and informal sector, number of social organizations and characteristic of members, the function of social organizations, access to public services Village records, village headman, subdistrict officer, the elders of community
PO, DO, SDC, ID x Cultural identification of workers' community A. Historical data: history of community and industrial area, history of migrants (buruh pendatang) The elders of community members (natives), male migrant PO, DO, SDC, ID B. Cultural data: ethnic groups (majority and minority), local norms workers and women factory workers (WFW)
. Women workers' sources of identity
x Demographic characteristics Age, marital status, working status, length of stay, place of origin, educational attainment, etc. WFW ID
x Kinds of networks Forms of social network among family members, kin-group, neighborhood, fellow workers, hometown and other associations; the use/function of social network; the use of social networks The elders of community, community's members, WFM PO, DO, SDC, ID x Ethnic identity Dispute, basis of dispute, cooperation, power relations between ethnic groups, perception of other ethnic groups The elders of community, community's members, WFM PO, DO, ID x Gender identity Division of work in domestic and public (workplace & community) spheres, gender socialization forms in family and community The elders of community, community's members, male workers, WFM PO, DO, ID x Working conditions aspect Working trajectory, recent working status (permanent, temporary, casual labor, etc.), job description, type of firm (small, medium, large), number of employees (proportion of men and womendivision of labor), proportion of wages between men and women, employment relations TU records, male workers, WFM, labor organizers ID, SDC
35 Table 2Continued
Research topic
Data set
Data source Data- gathering technique III. The nature of labor activism
x Labor activism Trade union membership, trade union activities, forms of resistance (strikes, negotiations, walkouts, slowdowns, etc.), basis of resistance, frequency of joining labor strikes, labor training, union meetings, perceptions on labor activism, number of strikes, duration of strikes, number of workers involved in strikes, agenda of strikes. TU records, factory workers, labor organizers PO, DO, SDC, ID x Women and labor activism
x Identity Reasons that underlie decision to engage or not to engage in labor activism, perceptions of labor activism, advantage and disadvantage of engaging in labor activism. The number of identities a woman migrant worker holds (as migrant, mother, wife, daughter, factory worker, and so on). Identities that are often held by a woman worker. Kind of networks (family and non- family) that a woman worker has. Networks that are often used by a woman worker. Women factory workers
Women factory workers PO, ID
PO, ID
Thesis Organization
The thesis is organized into five chapters. Chapter 1 presents the background, the research problem, the significance and limitations of the study, the review of related literature, and the methodology. Chapter 2 describes the nature of factory work in the Ujungberung area, particularly in a factory where a substantial percentage of workers are women. The characteristics of the community where factory workers are concentrated are also described in this chapter. This chapter is
36 expected to explain structural conditions where women workers' identities are embedded. Chapter 3 presents the nature of labor activism and the profile of a trade union where women factory workers engage. This chapter explains conditions where women workers' identities are mobilized. Chapter 4 depicts the sources of identity, gender roles, migration status, social networks and so on, among women factory workers and how these affect their everyday lives in the household, community, and workplace as well as their involvement in labor activism. It also identifies sources of identity that have significant impact on labor activism. Chapter 5 presents the summary of the findings of the study and assesses the analytical framework.
37 CHAPTER 2 THE NATURE OF FACTORY WORK IN THE UJUNGBERUNG AREA
Industrialization in Indonesia has been concentrated on Java Island, particularly in West Java where the capital Jakarta lies. Since 1990, industries in West Java have been the biggest contributor to the manufacture and trade industries of Indonesian products except oil and gas (PPLH-ITB and Bappeda 1994, 28). This chapter describes general conditions in the Ujungberung industrial area of West Java. It will be followed by the description of a Japanese-owned spinning mill, the worksite under study. These descriptions aim to give the reader an idea of structural conditions where women workers' identities are embedded.
The Industrial Center of Ujungberung The Ujungberung area lies in the eastern part of Bandung City, West Java. This area consists of three subdistricts (kecamatan) [the Ujungberung Subdistrict, the Arcamanik Subdistrict, and the Cicadas Subdistrict] and sixteen administrative villages (kelurahan). In 2005, the total population of the Ujungberung area stood at 210,776 inhabitants, of whom 49.6 percent were women and 50.4 percent were men. 1
1 The data is derived from the Ujungberung, Arcamanik, and Cicadas subdistrict monographs published in 2005. Each subdistrict produces the monographs.
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This section focuses on the socioeconomic condition of the Ujungberung inhabitants before and after factories were established, the characteristics of the industries located in the area, the locals' attitudes toward the presence of factories, and the issues related to the interaction of locals and migrants.
Socioeconomic condition of the residents In the 1950s, before factories were set up in Ujungberung, most of the land functioned as paddy fields and palawija (secondary crops such as corn, cassava, and soybean following rice paddy) fields that were mostly occupied by government officers and private landlords (Keppy 2001, vii). The majority of local inhabitants were landless. A few of these inhabitants, however, owned small pieces of land that they commonly used as vegetable gardens to meet daily food needs. Some of these vegetables were sold at local markets and the money earned was used to buy rice and other daily necessities. 2
During this period most Ujungberung inhabitants were buruh tani (farm hands or agricultural laborers) and petty traders. Many of the inhabitants, however, shifted to construction work in the late 1960s when factories were established and in the 1970s when housing projects in Antapani and Sukaasih area were built. The farm hands usually joined construction work during the non-harvesting and the non- planting seasons. Koko, a fifty-one-year-old male factory worker and native inhabitant, shares his experience:
2 Taken from an interview with Koko, fifty-one, a native inhabitant, labor activist, and factory worker in Grantex, Bunisari, Cicadas Subdistrict, 23 September 2006.
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Waktu masih di SR, kalau beres sekolah saya ngumpulin daun pisang terus dijual ke pasar atau dituker sama ikan asin.lulus dari SR saya jualan kue, areng sama bandros. Saya jualan areng sekitar 3 tahunan. Terus saya coba kerja kuli bangunan. Dari tahun '80 saya kerja di Grantex, yah masih ngerjain bangunan bukan jadi operator atau teknisi, sampai sekarang. (When I was in elementary school, I usually gathered banana leaves after school and sold or traded them for dried fish. After I graduated from elementary school I sold cookies, charcoal, and 'bandros'. 3 I sold charcoal for three years. Then, I tried to be a construction worker. Since 1980, I have worked in Grantex but not as operator or technician but still as construction worker.)
Construction work was very popular, especially among those below thirty years old. The work offered flexible time and a generally higher wage compared to being a farm hand. Before the factories were established, women were also engaged in the agricultural sector. Some of the Ujungberung women were also employed as domestic helpers in well-off families or as weavers 4 in factories that mushroomed in the Majalaya Subdistrict from the 1950s to the 1970s. 5
The use of land as paddy fields and palawija fields gradually changed when factories were established in the late 1960s. The Ujungberung area was chosen as the center of industry in Bandung City because of the availability of space to establish factories, easy access to various means of transportation, and its strategic location that is close to the city. Most of these fields were sold to people or groups who want to build factories on the site. During this period some of the local
3 A sweet tidbit made of rice flour. 4 In West Java, weavers used a small wooden frame handloom on which simple shuttle weaving was done (Keppy 2001, 33).
5 Majalaya has been known as the center of weaving industry. However, its popularity has been decreasing due to the presence of modern factories in other parts of West Java, such as Jabotabek, Ujungberung, and Cimahi (Keppy 2001; Setia 2005).
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government officers in the subdistrict and village levels as well as the local inhabitants served as makelar tanah (land brokers). They received commission from every piece of land that they sold. The presence of factories increased income-generating activities among Ujungberung inhabitants. Aside from the absorption of local inhabitants to the factories, many inhabitants opened warung (small shops) and rented out rooms or houses in order to accommodate the need of workers, especially migrant workers. Furthermore, petty traders and money lenders also became popular. However, the practice of lending money is usually hidden since Moslem law prohibits the high interest applied. In addition, money lending is seen as a hina (contemptible) job. Thus, no money lenders are registered in the village and subdistrict documents even though many inhabitants have used their services. Table 3 shows the distribution of occupations in the Ujungberung area. Table 3 shows that around 40 percent of the Ujungberung workforce are factory workers. The rest are distributed among various occupations. The diversity of occupations has differentiated Ujungberung from other industrial areas where factory workers make up more than 50 percent of the workforce. In Ujungberung, the presence of factory workers in the community is as dominant as non-factory workers. Table 3 does not mention the data of boarding house entrepreneurs or private landlords that benefited from the influx of migrants to this area. They have rented out
41
their houses or rooms to the boarders for Rp 100,000 to Rp 300,000 (US$11 to US$33.3) 6 monthly.
TABLE 3
DISTRIBUTION OF OCCUPATIONS IN THREE SUBDISTRICTS*
Main Occupation Ujungberung Arcamanik Cicadas Factory worker 10,919 13,523 12,850 Civil servant 6,046 4,925 8,243 Trader 3,230 4,734 8,479 Army/police 1,626 1,488 422 Driver 586 603 483 Construction worker 934 1,940 502 Pedicab driver 100 - 46 Businessman 182 20 1,978 Retired army/civil servant - 2,593 - Other 6,699 1,364 339 Total 30,322 31,170 33,342 *The accuracy of the data is unverified but it is still able to give a general picture about the distribution of occupations in these subdistricts.
Source: The monograph of Ujungberung and Cicadas Subdistricts (2005); the monograph of Arcamanik Subdistrict (2006).
In the 1970s and 1980s the local inhabitants dominated the room rental business. But since the mid-1990s, some migrants who have stayed for years in the Ujungberung area bought pieces of land or houses from the local people and also started to engage in the boarding house business. According to Koko and Wawan, 7
many migrants moved from being tenants to owners and achieved higher economic status in the community than locals. Wawan explains that the ability of migrants to
6 Based on the exchange rate US$1 = Rp 9,000
7 Interview in Tagog with Wawan, a fifty-one-year-old male native inhabitant, community leader, and supervisor assistant in TIC (19 September 2006).
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live in a difficult condition enabled them to accumulate capital. His neighbor, a male Javanese factory worker, only ate cassava leaves that he got from Wawan's family backyard, for example. Wawan also mentioned a male massager from Central Java who still slept on the floor of his rented room even if he had a big house and a large field area in his hometown. These migrants were different from the general picture of the local inhabitants, Sundanese, who rarely saved their money for investment. This section shows that the socioeconomic condition of the native residents changed soon after factories were established. 8
The characteristics of the industry Domestic and foreign investment laws passed in 1967 spurred industrialization in the Ujungberung area. The early industrialization can be observed through the establishment of textile factories, namely BTN (Badan Tekstil National or National Textile Body), Grantex (Grand Textile Indonesia Corporation), Sandang Sari, and Naintex II in the late 1960s and the early 1970s. Initially, these factories were owned by domestic investors and applied modern technology. A few years after, other factories including non-textile factories were established. Nevertheless, the industrial area of Ujungberung has been dominated by textile, garment, and spinning factories. According to subdistrict reports, more
8 The presence of factories had various effects on the economic condition of Ujungberung residents. As mentioned earlier, private landlords benefited most from the influx of migrants because of their boarding house business. Meanwhile, the condition of landless residents, especially those with low educational background, did not improve so much as exemplified by Koko's case.
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than seventy-five medium and large-scale industries 9 operate in the Ujungberung area. However, the reports do not describe the characteristics of these industries. In addition, advances in information technology do not appear to bring significant changes in labor process within industries in the Ujungberung area. The nature of industry in this area, which is still dominated by labor intensive industries, may contribute to this situation, except pharmacy. In the mid-1990s, technological changes occurred in Tomenbo Indonesia Corporation and Lawe Adya Prima Corporation. The changes appear to underlie managements' decision to hire workers with a higher educational level. Although the managements admit that the technological changes do not necessarily require certain skills, hiring those with a higher educational level will give more advantages. A manager reasons out, "the more educated workers relatively find it easier to follow work instructions. The following are some of the characteristics of industries in Ujungberung that were gathered during the research (see table 4). The rise of factories in Ujungberung was followed by the influx of migrant workers from various regions in West Java such as Cicalengka, Garut, Cirebon, and outside West Java such as Central Java, East Java, Lampung, and North Sumatera. The influx of migrants was linked to the unwillingness of the local inhabitants to work
9 Manufacturing industries, according to official definition, are classified into four categories based on the number of persons engaged: cottage (1-4 employees), small (5- 19 employees), medium (20-99 employees), and large (100 and more employees). But since this definition is considered by many as unrealistic, this thesis follows Hill's definition which has broadened the definition of small to 5-49; medium to 50-199; and large to 200 and more (cited in Saptari 1995, 36).
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in the factory during the early industrialization. This is explained in the following section.
TABLE 4
THE CHARACTERISTICS OF INDUSTRY IN THE UJUNGBERUNG AREA
No. Factory Location Marketing target Scale Product 1 Gani Arta* Ujungberung Local Large Textile 2 RDR Ujungberung Local Medium Timber 3 Multi instrumentasi Ujungberung Local Medium Metal 4 Tanabe Indonesia Ujungberung Local-export Large Pharmacy 5 Lawe Adya Prima Ujungberung Local-export Large Yarn 6 Bintang Agung Ujungberung Local-export Large Textile 7 ISAM Ujungberung Local Medium Milk 8 Sandang Sari Abadi Ujungberung Local-export Large Textile 9 Caturindo Agung Jaya Rubber Ujungberung Local-export Large Rubber 10 Bintang Mulya Ujungberung Local Medium Garment 11 GKSI Ujungberung Local Medium Milk 12 Samator Ujungberung Local Medium Gas 13 Andarisana Ujungberung Local Medium Textile 14 Heritex Ujungberung Local Medium Yarn 15 Kayamatex 2* Ujungberung Local Large Textile 16 Tiga Negeri Raya* Ujungberung Local Medium Guitar
17 Busana Cemerlang Ujungberung Local Medium Garment 18 Yuntex Arcamanik Local Large Textile 19 Fujitex* Arcamanik Local-export Large Textile 20 Tomenbo Indonesia Corp. Arcamanik Local-export Large Yarn 21 Sandang Sari Arcamanik Local-export Medium Textile 22 Yupatex* Arcamanik Local-export Large Textile 23 Perintex Cicadas Local-export Medium Textile 24 Grantex Cicadas Local-export Large Textile 25 Indosco Utama Cicadas Local Medium Coconut oil 26 Badan Tekstil Nasional Cicadas Local Medium Textile 27 Erba Cicadas Local Medium Textile * Already closed in 2004-2005
Sources: List of industries in the Ujungberung Subdistrict in 2004-2005; interviews with factory workers, union organizers, and government officers in the subdistrict and village levels.
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The natives' responses to factories
Local inhabitants in Ujungberung were reluctant to work in factories since it required a strict and inflexible work schedule. 10 This refusal contributed to the shortage of workers in the area. As KI Wawan fifty-one-year old describes: Awalnya, anak muda engga tertarik kerja di pabrik. Jam kerja yang ketat engga cocok. Mereka lebih memilih bebas, jadi kuli bangunan atau buruh tani. Ada kesan pekerja pabrik rendah karena kebanyakan yang kerja di pabrik tenun perempuan yang udah nikah dan pakai kain samping. Orang local sih olo-olo. (In the beginning, the younger generation [male] did not want to work as factory workers. The time discipline required was not attractive for them. They preferred to be free [flexible time] and to work as construction workers or farm hands. There was also an impression that factory workers had a lower status because most of the workers in weaving factories were married women wearing printed cloths. The locals are just arrogant.)
Wawan also adds that during the first few years of industrialization, many of the Ujungberung young men preferred to be thugs instead of factory workers. Every payday, these thugs extracted money from migrant factory workers as security payment. However, in the 1980s, an operation to eliminate thugs or criminals was launched by the Indonesian government. This era was known as jaman petrus (mysterious killers' era). Many thugs, afraid of being killed, stopped extracting protection money from migrant factory workers. Some of them started to work in factories to acquire a better image in communities. In addition, Wawan also explains that factory workers' uniforms, the arrival of modern technology in the 1970's, and
10 t is supported by Ong's (1987 cited in Wolf 1990) argument that workers in factories had far less autonomy in the production process compared to market traders or agriculturalists, due to the highly disciplined and controlled atmosphere of industrial capitalist production.
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stories from friends who worked in factories changed local inhabitant's low views of factory workers. When construction of housing projects in Antapani and Sukaasih were finished and work as farm hands got scarce because of decreasing paddy fields, many local male inhabitants started to seek factory employment. Local inhabitants worked as factory workers side by side with migrants. But then, employers in factories preferred to hire migrants, particularly those from Central Java and East Java, because of their reputation as industrious and compliant workers. As Putri twenty-sever-year-old female migrant worker from North Sumatra, states, Orang Jawa sih rajin banget dan ulet. Biar sakit mereka tetap kerja. Makanya semua karu (kepala regu) orang Jawa. Kalo orang Sunda sukanya leha-leha, asal-asalan dan banyak komentar. (Javanese workers are very diligent and persevering. They will keep on working even when they are sick. That is why all heads of the group [in the factory] are Javanese. Meanwhile, the Sundanese are careless and have too many comments.)
Rosa, twenty-nine-year-old, female migrant worker from Purworejo, Central Java, also shares a similar impression: Gak kayak orang Sunda yang langsung istirahat kalau dengar bel, orang Jawa sih mendingan nunda istirahat biar kerjaan beres. Kadang mereka suka bilang sama saya ngapain capek kaya gitu lagian perusahaannya punya Jepang bukan punya kita. Ah saya cuekin aja. Saya kan disini buat kerja. (Unlike the Sundanese who take a break as soon as they hear the bell, the Javanese workers prefer to postpone their break time in order to finish the job. Sometimes, they [Sundanese] tell me there is no need to work hard because the company belongs to Japanese, not to us, but I just ignored that. I am here to work.)
However, these stereotypes never caused major conflicts among the local, Sundanese, and migrant workers (particularly the Javanese workers) in the
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workplace or community in Ujungberung. At least, there were no records in the subdistricts and villages about the conflict between local inhabitants and migrants.
The issues of locals and migrants During the interviews and FGDs, none of the informants revealed issues related to the ethnic conflict between local and migrant inhabitants. While some have experienced being called "Jawa koek gede hulu (Javanese is arrogant) or "dasar si Batak 11 in schools or in factories, Javanese and Batak migrants mostly ignore these taunts and consider these as jokes. Rarely does one fight back. Nana twenty-seven-year-old, female migrant worker from North Sumatra, shares: Ete terus manggil saya, Batak! Biasanya saya cuekin aja, emang dia orangnya gitu. Tapi pernah saya lawan di ruang istirahat. Dia keliatan kaget, setelah itu dia jarang manggil Batak lagi. (Ete [a group leader's name] keeps calling me Batak. I usually ignore her because that is the way she is. However, there was a time when I fought back in the rest room. She seemed shocked. She rarely called me Batak ever since.) - FGD, 22 September 2006
Javanese usually find it difficult to mingle with Sundanese and they prefer to mingle with other Javanese. Thus, the Sundanese perceive them as an exclusive group. In fact, it is logical because of the difficulty encountered by Javanese in following conversations of Sundanese, who rarely use Bahasa Indonesia. Meanwhile, Batak is known to be a rough and aggressive person. In addition, Sundanese also comment that Batak eat dogs, which to Sundanese is repugnant
11 Dasar literary means, "that is the way people of his or her type is. There are some stereotypes attached to this calling.
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enough (Bruner 1974, 265-266). Batak aggressiveness is considered incompatible with local Sundanese values that give importance to refined attitude. However, after some time, most Javanese and Batak or non-Sundanese migrants make adjustments in their ways and their culture to become more Sundanese-like. In Bandung, the Sundanese are a numerical majority, dominant culture, and have control of political power (see Bruner 1974). Therefore, it is very important for non- Sundanese migrants to learn Sundanese culture when they migrate to Bandung. In another industrial area called Majalaya where factory owners preferred to hire migrants, the conflict between migrants (particularly Javanese) and locals (Sundanese) occurred beyond the factory walls. In the late 1990s, many migrant workers in Majalaya experienced discrimination when natives threatened and intimidated migrant workers to stop them from working. The natives also excluded migrants from community activities such as arisan (rotating savings associations) and pengajian (holy Qur'an recital). The locals' resentment also took other forms such as destroying factory walls and closing the water disposal pipeline. These actions occurred because of the unwillingness of management to address the demand of natives for factory employment. After these actions, employers gave more work opportunities to natives. These actions never occurred in Ujungberung. Since the beginning, factory management and a representative of local inhabitants have made an agreement to give equal opportunity to native community members who lived within the radius of
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2 km to 5 km from the factory 12 even though the proportion of locals is less than migrants. Local youth organizations and subhamlet heads (ketua rukun warga) have often been used as informal agencies to recruit natives. Management informs these agencies to recruit several young community members every time there are vacancies. 13 Furthermore, Wawan states that the factory also contributes to the development of the community by providing health care centers and sanitary water, building roads, and supporting community activities. They also give monthly allowances for subhamlet heads and neighborhood chiefs amounting to around Rp 500,000 to mitigate complaints on sound pollution, air pollution, and so on from community members. This strategy is also useful in controlling workers outside the factory walls. The factory has used the subhamlet heads and neighborhood chiefs as law enforcers in the community. Factory workers live side by side with non-factory workers. The proportion of non-factory workers and factory workers in the community is relatively equal. Factory workers have rarely brought workplace issues into the community. In fact, community elites discourage any action that will disturb community stability and unity. The lack of ethnic-based conflicts and community and industry relation-based conflicts that often occur in other industrial areas such as Majalaya has made Ujungberung a relatively stable industrial area.
12 Interview with Iis, general manager in TIC, Cicukang (22 September 2006).
13 Interviews with Koko; Wawan; Iis
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The following section describes the nature of two factory workers' communities (i.e., Cinambo Indah and Bunisari) in the Ujungberung area. These areas were chosen because of their close location to factories. Thus, the relationship between communities and factories can be seen more clearly.
The Nature of Factory Workers' Communities In the 1970s the native residents of Ujungberung were concentrated in Cihaurkuku, Sindangsari, Simpangsari, and Arjasari. But since the late 1970s both natives and migrants have occupied these areas. Factory workers in Ujungberung are also scattered around Bandung City such as in Cicadas, Kiaracondong, and even in Cimahi 14 western part of Bandung City (see figure 3). However, factory workers in the Ujungberung area are concentrated on Cinambo Indah (Secapa) and Simpang Sari, particularly Bunisari. The majority of Cinambo Indah residents work in Bintang Agung, Sandang Sari, and Lawe Adya Prima in Gede Bage Street (see figure 4). These factories are only 10 to 15 minutes away from their homes on foot. In Bunisari, many residents work in Grantex, BTN, Erba, and Perintex which are located along the main street, Jendral Ahmad Yani (see figure 5). These factories are only a short walk from Bunisari. As Titin (51), a former factory worker of Grantex describes, "Kerja di Grantex enak, bangun tidur, cuci muka langsung jalan ke pabrik. Enggak harus keluarin ongkos. (Work in Grantex was good. I wake up, wash my face and walk to the factory. didn't need to pay for transportation.)
14 Cimahi was part of the region of Bandung. But since the year 2000, it has become an autonomous municipality. The city of Cimahi is an industrial center in West Java.
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FIGURE 3 THE MAP OF BANDUNG CITY
Source: http://www.asiamaya.com/peta/bandung.htm
Cinambo Indah
The Cinambo Indah (see figure 4), known as the Javanese Village, is part of the Ujungberung Subdistrict. Cinambo means Jang Jawa (for Javanese). Many Javanese have lived in this area for years. For local people, the area is known as Secapa. 15 Cinambo is dominated by the Javanese which has made Cinambo distinctive compared to other workers' communities in Ujungberung, dominated by the Sundanese.
15 Secapa is a military base in the northern part of Bandung City. Purnawirawan (retired army officers) who initially lived in Secapa are transferred to Cinambo. Cihaurkuku, Sindangsari, Arjasari, Simpangsari N
Some Javanese inhabitants married other Javanese, local people, or Sundanese migrants and built families there. Yuni, a thirty-one-year-old Javanese, has worked in the Lawe factory for twelve years. She is married to a Javanese colleague and has one eight-year-old son. Yuni feels comfortable living in Cinambo. She explains, "Here, don't feel 'm in a perantauan (foreign area) because people Cinambo Indah N Factory
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speak in the same language. Yuni and other Javanese or non-Sundanese women still need to learn Sundanese, because it is used as daily language at the workplace. Tuti, a thirty-nine-year-old migrant worker from Central Java, Yuni's neighbor, also feels the same way but she is married to a Sundanese man. Tuti has two children. One just graduated from senior high school and is still looking for a job. The youngest is studying in junior high school. Although they share similar characteristics with most of the community members, they do not take part in any community organization, such as pos yandu 16 and praying groups. Tuti says, "After work feel so tired and just want to rest. don't have much time to do it (engaging in community activity) either. Tuti and Yuni admit that they spend more time with their female colleagues in the factory than with their neighbors. They also explain that the community activities in Cinambo are not very well-organized. The community members only gather during the celebration of Independence Day every August 17. Since migrants dominate Cinambo, the area gets quite empty during the Lebaran holiday (observed after the fasting month of Ramadan). Many migrants in Cinambo go home to visit their relatives in their hometown for at least a week. They ask those left behind to watch their houses. This hometown visit is known as mudik.
16 Pos yandu is a monthly activity focusing on the infants' and mothers' health.
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Bunisari
Bunisari is located behind the housing area of Antapani (see figure 5). It is a 15-minute ride from Cinambo Indah. Bunisari has become a crowded area since the influx of migrants to Ujungberung. Koko, a native inhabitant, says, "Sebelum orang pendatang datang kesini, kemana-mana yang kelihatan cuma sawah. Tapi sekarang sih udah penuh rumah. (Before the migrants came, we could only see paddy fields. But now, all areas have houses.)
The ethnic background of community members is more heterogeneous compared to Cinambo Indah. In Bunisari, the Javanese have mingled more with the Sundanese and other ethnic groups such as Batak and Palembangese. Non- Sundanese migrants use Sundanese as their daily language in the Sundanese- dominated community. However, Nia, a Javanese worker, explains, " still speak in Javanese with my Javanese neighbors. I rarely use Sundanese when I talk to them. But in the factory and when hang out with friends speak in Sundanese. During the research, all non-Sundanese migrant workers were able to speak the Sundanese language properly. Furthermore, Koko, a native inhabitant, shares that in Bunisari many migrants have taken part in pacifying the community. The male migrants are actively involved in ronda 17 and the female migrants join pos yandu. Koko explains that these activities bind the natives and the migrants. Unlike Cinambo, Bunisari is still dominated by the Sundanese and the factory workers have lived side by side with non-factory workers. This composition allows community activities to develop further. The physical condition of Bunisari and Cinambo is quite similar. Most of the housing structures in these areas are semipermanent and adjacent to one another. Most of the residents here are renters. They rent a room or a small house. Three or more people usually occupy the rooms so they can share the payment. But they have to share the toilet with three or more households.
17 Ronda is a night activity where males work in groups and roam the community until early morning to guard the community from thieves and other disturbances.
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In these areas, the room and house rental business is still dominated by local inhabitants. However, there are some migrants who started to build and rent rooms. The room owners have applied different payment terms. Some of the owners require boarders to pay monthly while others are asked to pay yearly. The cost varies from Rp 100,000 to Rp300,000 (US$11 to US$33.3) per month or Rp 1,200,000 to Rp 4,000,000 (US$133.3 to US$444.4) per year. Nia, a renter, shares, Kost-an saya naik tadinya cuma 1,5 juta jadi 2 juta setelah direnovasi. Saya gak mampu bayar. Terus cari kontrakan lain untung ada yang murah dekat sini. Saya bayar 1,4 juta per tahun. (My renting cost increased from Rp 1,500,000 to Rp 2,000,000 after the owner renovated the place. I could not afford it anymore. I looked for another room. Fortunately, there was a cheap place in the same area. I pay Rp 1,400,000 per year.)
The aisles between houses can accommodate only two persons. Sometimes when motorcycles pass by, they need to step aside and give way. The aisles are more crowded during the day when children play. In some parts, the sky is barely seen because the roofs cover the aisles. Therefore, the aisles are dark even during the daytime. Cinambo and some parts of Bunisari are known as flood areas. During the research, some Bunisari inhabitants were repairing a bridge using government funds in order to prevent flooding that is usually expected at the end of the year. However, Cinambo has worse floods than Bunisari. During heavy rains, factory management gives workers who live in Cinambo an early dismissal. Moreover, factory waste has polluted the river along Cinambo and Bunisari. The river has a black color and bad odor. Residents who live near the river only use well water for bathing, and for washing clothes and dishes. They cannot use polluted
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water for drinking and cooking. Therefore, they allot money for clean water at around Rp 500 (20 cents) for 20 liters. 18
Some Ujungberung residents who own fishponds are also affected by factory waste. According to Dede, an ex-factory worker at Fujitex and a labor organizer, "Orang-orang yang punya kolam ikan sering datang ke pabrik, Fujitex buat minta ganti rugi karena ikannya pada mati. Pabrik kepaksa kasih ganti rugi, kalau engga bisa didemo. (The owners of fishponds often go to Fujitex's [textile factory] management asking for compensation for their dead fish. The factory has to pay for it. Otherwise, they [the fishpond owners] will hold a demonstration.) In spite of it all, members of the community have adjusted and rarely complained about this condition. It may be attributed to the ability of factory management to maintain good relationships with community leaders. These community leaders play important roles in mitigating complaints from community members. The nature of the factory work in Ujungberung that will be described in the next section is, to some extent, shaped by socioeconomic conditions of local inhabitants. For instance, local inhabitants that are recruited by informal labor agents such as subhamlet heads, especially those who do not meet requirements, are placed in unskilled jobs such as the packing division. To some extent, the nature of factory work has been adjusted in order to absorb local employment. The next
18 There are several water sellers in the community. They get clean water from natural water resources in the upland of Ujungberung. They buy the water from natural resources owners for Rp 12,000 per 5000 liters (Pikiran Rakyat, 2 November 2006).
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section depicts the nature of factory work in a Japanese-owned spinning mill where women make up the majority of employees. It provides the context of labor activism that will be explored in the next chapter.
A Profile of the Tomenbo Indonesia Corporation This section presents a profile of the Tomenbo Indonesia Corporation (TIC), a spinning mill in Bandung City, West Java. The profile contains the description of changes in TIC ownership, market orientation, size of workforce, labor recruitment and mode of entry, work hours system, wage and allowance scheme, social benefits, production process, and labor activity. This section also includes the segregation between male and female workers in the factory. The segregation by gender can be seen in the division of work and the hierarchical structure in the company.
Changes in ownership TIC has experienced three ownership changes. The company was founded in 1974 and was known then as Naintex II spinning mills. It was owned by a Chinese- Indonesian businessman. The status of Naintex II was domestic investment (Penanaman Modal Dalam Negeri/PMDN) and it focused on the domestic market. In the late 1980s Naintex II met financial difficulties which grew worse. In 1991, the owner decided to sell the company to two companies. Toyo Menka Kaisha (TMK) Corporation from Japan was the mother company and owned 80 percent. The rest was owned by Sarana Vida Sejahtera (SVS) Corporation from Indonesia. TMK
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and SVS changed the status of Naintex II into foreign investment (Penanaman Modal Asing/PMA) and renamed the company to Tomenbo Indonesia Corporation. Initially, the factory (Naintex II) engaged in yarn production and dyeing but under the new ownership the factory focused its energies on synthetic yarn production. TIC production items included spun acrylic yarn, spun polyester yarn, and polyester/rayon-blended yarn. The yarn was made from synthetic fibers such as acrylic, polyester, rayon, and mixed wool (the profile of TIC in 2006). In 2005, SVS and TMK sold TIC to Toyota Motor Company and shifted its investment to the building of an electric power plant in Gardujati, West Java. Now, the owner of TIC is Toyota Motor Company (interview with Krisno, TC's factory manager, 22 September 2006). In 1991, TIC had a hundred-ring spinning machines with 40,860 spindles. This factory was named F-1 (Factory One). In 1996, TIC built a second factory named F-2 (Factory Two) which had eleven-ring spinning machines with 10,560 spindles. Thus, the total spindle in TIC was 51,420, with F-1 as the center of production. This was shown by the number of machines in F-1 compared to F-2. Rosa, a TIC operator, shares the difference between F-1 and F-2 as follows: "Anak- anak kalo dipindahin ke F-2 kaya dipindahin ke swalayan. F-2 lebih santai dan 'gak banyak kerjaan. Di F1 kerjaannya lebih banyak dan berisik banget. (If F-1 workers are transferred to F-2, they feel like going to a supermarket. They prefer to work in F- 2 which is more relaxed and has less work. F-1 is a busy workplace and is very noisy.)
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During the transition between Naintex II to TIC, all male workers in the dyeing division were laid off. But this transition was not settled easily. Some of the workers asked for a higher severance pay and would not leave the company unless their demands had been met. After the negotiation process, an agreement was made about the severance pay. However, some workers preferred to stay and were placed in F-2. In contrast, female workers did not encounter any difficulty during this transition because the company still employed them. No change took place in the female workers' tasks. However, the changes in TC affected the way its workers related to several factors. A major one is the instability of market demand.
The market orientation In the 1990s, TIC relied heavily on the export market: 80 percent for export market and 20 percent for domestic market. Because of the instability of the global market in the 2000s, TIC shifted its market orientation to 60 percent for export and 40 percent for domestic market. TIC exported their products to the United States of America, Japan, India, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines. However, these export markets were very unstable. Sometimes TIC only exported to a few of these countries. The number of exports were dependent on the demand. The instability also affected the production capacity of TIC. The usual output of 980 tons per month decreased to 600 tons or even less per month. In turn, the decrease of production capacity reduced the workforce.
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Size of the workforce The number of employees in TIC decreased more than 25 percent (or more than 270 employees) in five years. According to the TIC general manager, the number has gone down from 1,040 in 2001 to 819 in April 2004. In 2004, the company cut down the number of workers by offering early retirements for senior workersthose who are close to fifty-five years old for men and fifty years old for women. Around two hundred employees who met this qualification applied for early retirement. In April 2006, only 770 employees were left. The number is still decreasing. According to Rosa, an operator and labor organizer, in 2008 around 150 workers are expected to retire. Rudi, a thirty-two- years-old technician and labor organizer, also notes that, "Every month there are always some workers who ask for early retirement or resignation. During the research, one of the informants, Nana, a twenty-seven-years-old migrant worker from North Sumatra, resigned from the workplace for family and health reasons. Some of the union officers assume that TC's policy of decreasing the number of employees is an attempt to cut production cost and to respond to the global market instability. They also believe that the factory will replace permanent workers with contractual workers. However, there is no way for workers to resist the policy since the management strictly follows the Labor Law in reducing the workforce. In addition, this policy of downsizing senior workers is not followed by the new labor recruitment. Even the labor union cannot resist this policy since this is not against the law.
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The labor recruitment The last labor recruitment was done in 2001. Until now, TIC has not yet recruited contractual workers. Therefore, all the workers in TIC are permanent workers. An attempt from the management was once made to hire contractual workers but SPN (Serikat Pekerja Nasional or National Trade Union) at the factory level objected and threatened to hold a big strike. Management backed off and followed another strategy to increase production efficiency. Krisno, factory manager of TIC, explains: Merekrut pegawai kontrak itu hanya satu cara agar perusahaan bisa bekerja lebih efisien. Dalam hal ini Tomenbo memilih melakukan cara lain, seperti mendorong kerja kelompok dan mengembangkan kemampuan pekerja agar bisa melakukan berbagai macam tugas.(Recruiting contractual workers is only one way to make a company work efficiently. TIC has chosen to do something else such as strengthening teamwork and improving the ability of each worker to do multiple tasks.)
While there are no new recruits, work requirements in the factory have changed. At the beginning of labor recruitment in the early 1970s, management was lenient. At that time, educational attainment was not an important consideration. Many workers only finished elementary school. But since the early 1990s, factory management has begun to set higher requirements: junior high school diploma and senior high school diploma. Iis, general manager of TIC, explains, "Lebih baik mempekerjakan yang lebih berpendidikan karena lebih mudah mengerti mesin. (It is better to hire those with higher education because they understand how the machine works better.) Table 5 shows the distribution of factory workers by educational attainment.
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TABLE 5 PERCENTAGE DISTRIBUTION OF TIC FACTORY WORKERS, BY EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT
Educational Attainment Number Percentage (%)
Elementary school 154 20 Junior high school 116 15 Senior high school 462 60 University/college 38 5 Total 770 100 Source: The profile of PT. Tomenbo Indonesia (2006).
Table 5 shows that majority of workers have senior high school diplomas. All of them work as operators and administrative staff members. In contrast, those who have elementary and junior high school diplomas are only assigned as operators or packagers. Some elementary and junior high school diploma holders have been working for twenty to thirty years. The majority of college/university students are placed in the marketing and management department. Some of them are also employed as engineers. The requirements followed in TIC are similar to those found in other factories in the Ujungberung area such as Lawe Adya Prima and Grantex (i.e., single, eighteen to twenty-three years old for high school diploma holders and twenty-four years old for university/college graduates). Some of the factories require a certain height for the workers. In this case the minimum is set at 155 cm. However, these requirements were not strictly applied to local residents. Some of the local residents did not meet the height, civil status, and education requirements. Some were already married and only graduated from junior high school when they were hired, or their
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height was less than 155 cm. But the company still hired them to fulfill the social responsibility of the factory to the community. Still, the local residents who did not meet the requirements were placed in divisions such as packing that require less skill. When the company began operation, the proportion between female and male workers was generally equal. However, males made up the majority of employees in the dyeing division, while females dominated the yarn production division. But since the second change of ownership which led to the shift of production focus and market orientation (i.e., from domestic to export market), females have dominated the factory floor. The present general manager argues, "Based on our experience, female workers are more dexterous and diligent. The jobs are perfect. In spinning mills, we need those kinds of workers. We need males for jobs that require physical strength. Therefore, male workers are secluded in the operator works (Park 1982 cited in Lee 1993). Machine operators have become the center of the production process in TIC. In 2006, around 80 percent of the workers were female. The migrant workers also dominated the factory floor at around 60 percent. Most of them, like other factory workers in TIC, are married. Only 20 percent are single. 19
The labor turnover in TIC is quite low as shown by the shortest work period which was six years. The age range of the workers is twenty-five to thirty-nine year old. The general picture in light manufacturing industries, especially TFG (textile,
19 Interview with labor organizers in TIC, 14 September 2006.
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footwear, and garment) industries, however, is different. It is dominated by the sixteen to twenty-five age group and is saddled by high labor turnover (Tjandraningsih 2000).
Mode of entry The company adopts several modes of entry, namely, direct applications, internships, kin connections, and recruitments by subhamlet heads and youth organizations near the factory. However, the most common of mode of entry in TIC is direct application. As shown by Putri, a twenty-seven-year-old migrant worker, says: Ada teman yang nyaranin ngelamar Tomenbo. Terus saya bikin lamaran dan kirim lewat pos. Sekitar 2 atau 3 minggu ada panggilan dari manajemen. Waktu itu ada 30 orang yang ngikutin training 3 bulan. Tapi Cuma 12 orang yang diterima kerja. Saya inget, semuanya perempuan, ditempatin jadi operator. (A friend encouraged me to send a job application to TIC. So I made a job application and sent it via mail. Within two or three weeks, the management called me. Thirty people were accepted for three months of training. But only twelve finally got jobs. I remember all were women and were assigned as operators.)
Rosa, another worker from TIC, also had a similar experience. In 1997, just six months after graduating from high school, she was hired as an operator in TIC. Before she got the job, she already accepted work as a saleswoman, but the company required her to remove her veil and she refused to do it. She argues, "Work is ibadah (act of devotion to Allah) but why do I have to remove my veil (jilbab/kerudung)." The TIC, like other factories, allows its women workers to wear the veil and lets male workers pray together every Friday (Jum'atan) for thirty minutes in the factory mosque.
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Meanwhile, Titin, an ex-factory worker and labor activist, experienced different modes of entry in different factories. In 1974, her uncle, who was a respected community member, offered her a job in Grantex. Her uncle made a recommendation for her. Then she went to the factory with her job application and recommendation which she gave to the supervisor. The supervisor asked her to work the next day. She did not need to follow the selection process; she was immediately assigned as operator. After a year in Grantex, her relative, who became subhamlet head, informed her that there was a job opening in TIC, which was still known as Naintex II at that time. She applied and followed the selection process. She was accepted and was placed as a staff member of production administration. She worked for TIC for twenty-nine years and got an early retirement in 2004. The common mode of entry in TIC is different from LAP (Lawe Adya Prima), another spinning mill in Ujungberung. Most workers in LAP use personal connections to get jobs. They call this personal connection as "agent (perantara). The "agent can be a friend, neighbor, or relative who works in LAP. Every time there is a new worker in LAP, he or she will be asked by their fellow workers, "Who is your agent? During the FGD of LAP, all participants admitted that they got their job through a labor agent. In fact, Edah, one of the participants, reveals that she helped five of her relatives to get jobs in LAP. She says, "Kalo engga punya koneksi orang dalam susah diterima kerja di Lawe. (It is difficult to be accepted in LAP if you do not have any connection with LAP workers.) In addition, Ima, a group leader in LAP, notices that "Selama 7 tahun kerja disini, saya engga pernah lihat pengumuman
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lowongan kerja. Biasanya manajemen kasih tahu pegawai dulu kalau ada lowongan. (I have never seen any job opening announcement in the seven years I have worked for LAP. The management tells the workers first if there is a job opening.) This strategy of recruitment is used by factory management as part of labor control (Mather 1985). The workers admit that they need to control their behavior in the workplace because they do not want to put their "agent into trouble. They have to comply with the rules: no chatting during work hours, no mistakes in the production process, no late attendance, and so forth. If they fail to do so, the company will call the "agent. As Tuti, an operator of LAP, explains, "The help of 'agent' makes it difficult to move (including participation in labor activism). If anything happens to me, they (the management) will call my ' agent'. In LAP, only one- woman worker holds a structural position in the labor union at the factory level. The case of LAP shows that the use of social networks has a dual effect. It ensures the attainment of jobs but appears to discourage workers' involvement in labor activism. In 2001, TIC applied a set of requirements in their selection process. The requirements include a general knowledge exam, psychological test, physical examination, interview, and training for three months. The trainees were paid 80 percent of minimum wage and were required to wear black and white uniforms. After three months they were promoted as permanent workers.
Work hours The factory operates on three eight-hour shifts, excluding overtime. The system is divided into two parts: shift and non-shift. The shift work hour is divided
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into morning shift (6:00 A.M.-2:00 P.M.), afternoon shift (2:00 P.M.-10:00 P.M.), and night shift (10:00 P.M.-6:00 A.M.). The shift group works from Monday to Saturday. Meanwhile, the non-shift work hour is from 8:00 A.M.-4:45 A.M. from Monday to Thursday and 8:00 A.M.-4:30 P.M. on Friday. On Saturday, the non-shift group only works for half a day. Break time is only thirty minutes. This applies for the shift and the non-shift group. Based on the Labor Law it is supposed to be an hour, but the rest of thirty minutes is calculated as overtime so they will get extra pay. Some workers have complained about the break time because they do not have enough time for eating and praying, considering the long distance between their workplace and the canteen. They need to spend at least five to ten minutes to walk. Therefore, many workers do not use the canteen facility and bring their own food to eat in the rest roomnot exactly a bad choice for them because they find canteen food undesirable. By doing so, however, they do not use their food allowance which can only be spent in the canteen. Those who work in the night shift rarely use their break time to eat but prefer to take a quick nap. Various preferences surface in the shift work. Some workers prefer the morning shift even though the control from the supervisor is more rigid and the work is more tiring. However, they feel like normal human beings who sleep at night and work in the morning. As Rosa says, " always feel tired every time work in the night shift and do not feel like a normal human being. But others prefer the night shift because at night the control is very loose and the overtime pay is bigger. Those who
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are in charge are only group leaders and supervisors. Sometimes the workers are able to take a quick nap for fifteen minutes. They usually do this after the work is almost finished or during break time. They cover their body with boxes or sleep between the yarns' trolleys, then they ask a friend to be on the lookout in case a group leader or a supervisor comes. Nia, a TIC operator, prefers the night shift because she can still go out with friends in the afternoon and receive a higher overtime pay. Pipin, another operator in TIC, also prefers the night shift but for a different reason. For her, working in the night shift allows her to take care of her children and husbandone thing that cannot be done when she works in the morning and afternoon shift. Because of the decrease in market demand, the company cut the working time from eight to six hours. It also enforced policies to reduce electrical consumption. In 2000, the company changed to diesel power so the production process only relied on PLN (Perusahaan Listrik Negara or State Electricity Company). It has become more difficult since the Indonesian Government increased the cost of electricity for more than 30 percent. TIC needs to spend Rp 1.3 billion per month for electricity while they only spend around Rp 800 million for workers' salary including allowance and benefits.
Wage and allowance scheme The wage scheme is divided into daily wage and monthly wage. The daily wage is given to those who work in the production division such as operators, maintenance personnel, and technicians. They usually call it dalam (inside) division.
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The monthly wage is given to managers, marketing, and administrative staffs or those who work in depan (front) division. The front division has a higher status. According to Nia, some of the workers refuse to ride on the same factory bus with karyawan depan (the front staffs) because they feel intimidated. The components of a factory wage are permanent wage and non-permanent wage. The non-permanent wage depends on the workers' attendance. The permanent wage consists of basic wage, work position allowance, family allowance, and length of work allowance. The non-permanent wage, meanwhile, consists of food allowance, transportation allowance, attendance allowance, and work hour change allowance. 20 The amount of work hour change allowance from night to afternoon shift is Rp 3,000 and Rp 1,500 from afternoon to morning shift. The food and transportation allowances are given through food in the factory canteen and buses for taking the workers home. There were attempts to demand a better meal or to replace the food with money, since only few workers use the facility. However, during the fasting month the company replaces the food with money at the amount of Rp 2,600. The attendance allowance is given if the workers work for a full month. The company gives Rp 30,000 for complete attendance. The annual basic salary increase follows the minimum wage standard in Bandung City. The increase is still lower than the workers' initial demands. TC uses a work grade system from A to D. Management decides the grade. The length of
20 Work hour change occurs every week. During the change, for instance, from night to afternoon shift, workers receive extra money (allowance).
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service does not automatically put workers into a higher class. Iman, a labor leader, explains that there is no clear reason why certain workers can achieve a higher class. Rudi also notes that only those who have a close relationship with the general manager and the factory manager can move up easily. There is no transparent evaluation procedure. Table 6 shows the basic wage 21 of TIC workers by work grade.
TABLE 6
BASIC WAGE CLASSIFICATION, BY WORK GRADE Work Classification Rupiah/Month Training 746,000 A-1 (below than 1 year) 746,000 A1 748,000 A2 750,000 A3 752,000 A4 758,000 B1 776,000 B2 791,000 C1 812,000 C2 836,000 D1 863,000 D2 906,000 Source: The collective labor agreement document in 2006; interviews with workers and labor organizers (2006).
No difference exists between male and female workers in terms of basic salary. However, the family allowance is only given to male workers. The amount of family allowance is based on the number of children that male workers have. The married male worker without children will be given Rp 20,000. The company gives
21 Government covers taxes for those who earn less than Rp 1,000,000. Allowances are not included in the calculation of basic wage.
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Rp 25,000 for one child, Rp 30,000 for two children, and Rp 35,000 for three children. The company only covers three children. Furthermore, as shown in table 7 the work period allowance is applied equally for male and female workers.
TABLE 7 WORK PERIOD ALLOWANCE Work Period (years) Rupiah per month 1-5 3,000 5-10 8,000 10-15 10,000 15-20 12,000 20-25 14,500 Above 25 16,500 Source: The collective labor agreement document in 2006; interviews with workers and labor organizers.
No information is available on the work position allowance. But since the highest work position that can be achieved by a female worker is a group leader (see figure 6) and the family allowance is only given to males, it can be concluded that male workers get higher total salaries than female workers. To illustrate, Rosa with nine years of work experience and an A-2 work grade, gets Rp 1,214,150 or US$130 per month for complete attendance, including deduction for income tax, cooperative saving, social security, and union contribution. The average take-home pay of women workers amounts to Rp 900,000 to Rp 1,000,000 per month for complete attendance and without work hour cutting. This take-home pay is higher than the minimum wage for Bandung City in 2006 amounting to Rp 746,500.
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FIGURE 6 HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE OF TIC
Legend:
Source: Factory Manager and Factory Workers. Board of Directors Factory Manager Assistant Factory Manager
General Manager Personnel, Marketing, and Finance Managers Quality Control Supervisor Production Supervisor: Pre. & Ring- Spinning (RS) Production Supervisor: Finishing (Fin) Maintenance Supervisor: Preparation
Maintenance Supervisor: RS. & Fin.
Utility Supervisor Assistant Supervisor Assistant: Supervisor Pre. Assistant: Supervisor RS Assistant Supervisor Assistant Supervisor Assistant Supervisor Group Leader Group Leader Group Leader Group Leader Group Leader Group Leader Workers Workers Workers Workers Workers Workers Female Male Male & Female
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Table 8 summarizes the profile of women workers of TIC. The profile includes age, marital status, educational background, work position, length of work, monthly salary, and mode of entry.
TABLE 8 PROFILE OF TEN WOMEN WORKERS IN TIC Women cases Age Marital status Educational background Work position Length of work (years) Monthly salary 22
(US$) Mode of entry 1. Wati 28 M SHS M 10 <100 DA 2. Rosa 29 S SHS O 9 100-135 DA 3. Nia 29 M SHS O 11 100-135 DA 4. Putri 27 M SHS O 6 < 100 DA 5. Nana 27 S SHS O 6.5 < 100 DA 6. Ati 45 M SHS WS 24 < 100 DA 7. Diah 27 M SHS M 7 < 100 SHR 8. Parmi 46 M ES O 29 100-135 DA 9. Wida 26 M SHS O 7 100-135 DA 10. Pipin 30 M SHS O 10 100-135 DA Information: Married (M), Single (S); Senior High School (SHS), Elementary School (ES); Maintenance (M), Operator (O), Warehouse Staff (WS); Direct Application (DA), Subhamlet Head's Reference (SHR).
Source: FGD in TIC (22 September 2006).
In addition to basic wage and allowance, the company also gives other benefits to the workers and their families. This is explained in the next section.
Social benefits TIC gives relatively better social benefits to its workers compared to other factories in Ujungberung. The factory provides a polyclinic complete with a medical doctor and a midwife which the workers and their family can use. In an emergency
22 It does not include taxes, union contribution, debt payment, and others.
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situation, workers and their families can be treated under company expense in a hospital referred by the factory. But the factory will only cover 50 percent of hospital costs for the workers' spouses or children. Some of the female workers complain about the polyclinic facility. They feel that the doctor and the midwife do not serve them well, especially during pregnancy checks and birth control consultation. The factory also gives an assistance of Rp 200,000 to the workers whose relatives (such as parents and parents-in-law) passed away and a Lebaran 23 bonus (THR/Tunjangan Hari Raya) that consists of one-month basic salary and bonus that depends on the work period. The range of bonus is from Rp 15,000 to 60,000. To illustrate, a worker with five years of experience and an A2 classification will receive Rp 50,000 plus Rp 15,000 of bonus every two weeks before Lebaran Day. As mentioned earlier, women workers' take-home pay are lower than men's, even in the same position. In fact, the difference between male and female workers has gone beyond wage, as explained in the next section.
The difference between female and male workers Female workers make up the majority of operators. In turn, males are placed as technicians and do other work that need physical strength, like being assigned in the utility division for maintaining factory supplies such as electricity and water. The difference between male and female workers has not only occurred in the division of work but in other spheres such as family allowance, retirement age, highest career
23 Feast celebrating the end of fasting period.
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attainment, and education opportunity. Nevertheless, female workers are treated in the same way as male workers in terms of basic wage, food allowance, and social benefits. Table 9 summarizes these differences.
TABLE 9 THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FEMALE AND MALE WORKERS IN TIC
Variables Male Female Family allowance Yes No Retirement age 55 years old 50 years old Highest career attainment Supervisors (kepala seksi kasi) The group leader/line leader (kepala regu-karu) Higher education opportunity Yes No Source: Fieldwork notes (2006).
Some assumptions underlie these differences. The assumption that women workers are secondary income earners prevents them from receiving family allowance. They are also expected to retire earlier because of their double burden in domestic and public spheres. The double burden may make them tire faster than male workers. Then, while females make up the majority of employees, males, particularly Javanese males, dominate the higher positions. Figure 6 describes the hierarchical structure in TIC and shows the segregation of female workers from the higher level of hierarchy. Moreover, the segregation in hierarchical structure is not only by gender but also by ethnic groups. As mentioned earlier, the manager prefers to hire Javanese workers, both men and women, than Sundanese workers because Javanese are
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perceived to be more diligent. According to Rosa, the Javanese occupy about 90 percent of group leader positions and Sundanese migrant workers hold the rest. The local Sundanese are left behind. This is also the case for higher positions: Javanese men dominate supervisory and managerial positions. Some workers say promotions given to Javanese workers are due to their close relationships with supervisors, who are also Javanese. But Rosa, a Javanese worker, argues: Walaupun saya ada masalah dengan kaur (kepala urusan) tapi saya naik golongan. Ke saya sih kayaknya dia objektif. Saya bilang, "pak terima kasih saya sudah naik golongan." Dia bilang, "Kamu seharusnya sudah dari tahun kemaren naik golongan tapi saya tidak enak sama yang lama." Kayanya kriterianya kerja dan absen bagus. Dulu saya yang pertama naik golongan. (Although I have a problem with my supervisor, I still got promoted. For me, he [supervisor] is objective. said, "Sir, thank you for the promotion. He said, "Actually you should have been promoted last year but do not feel comfortable with those who have worked longer than you. think the criteria [for job promotion] are good work and good attendance. At the time, I was the first one who got promoted.)
Some women workers admit that the Javanese are the most diligent and responsible workers. This is followed by the non-Sundanese (Lampungese) and Sundanese migrants. In fact, a Sundanese migrant from Tasik region, accessible through a five-hour ride from Bandung City, who has also occupied a higher position in the company. Rosa assumes that locally recruited workers show such lack of responsibility because they have the support of their families who live near them. Rosa expounds on the lack of responsibility of locally recruited workers as follows: The Sundanese will easily throw broken yarns even if these are just a bit broken. will say, "Such is a waste. t is better to fix it. Then they will say, "The Japanese are rich and imperialist.
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The issue of migration status and ethnicity raised by Rosa needs to be examined further, especially since non-Javanese migrants have often been positioned lower than the Javanese migrants.
The production process The general production process in TIC is turning synthetic fiber to yarn. This process is done by machine technology which is described in figure 7. The blowing, carding, drawing, and roping process are called prespinning. Female workers operate these machines. Each worker operates seven machines. The female workers are placed in the unskilled section, making it difficult for them to obtain higher positions in the factory.
FIGURE 7 THE PRODUCTION PROCESS
Source: The profile of PT. Tomenbo and interview with factory workers.
Labor activity In TIC, labor activities are organized well by the SPN at the factory level. Various activities include labor trainings on basic rights, civic education, and gender issues as well as recreational activities. Blowing: Messing up process Carding: Refining process Drawing: Fiber processing
Roping: Fiber stretching process Ring- spinning: Yarn- making process Mach- coner: Yarn-rolling process
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An annual vacation is a part of the recreational activities supported by the company. Workers go to local tourist spots such as Dunia Fantasi 24 . But for the past three years, no vacations took place because of the different interests of the workers. Many workers preferred to get money instead of vacation. So the union organizers decided not to have a vacation. Another annual activity is the Independence Day celebration every August 17. It is usually celebrated with games, sports, and karaoke competitions. During this celebration, the company also announces the employees of the year (i.e., those who were never absent from work). According to Rosa, 80 percent of the winners are women. In addition, there are also weekly activities such as badminton, football, and volleyball. Male workers usually participate in these sports activities. The female workers only engage in aerobic activity. However, the aerobic activity has been inactive for the last few months. Females are relatively more active in economic-oriented activities such as arisan, kredit barang (goods credit), and koperasi (cooperative). The union does not organize these activities. The arisan and koperasi are organized collectively, while kredit barang is done individually. In kredit barang, those who have enough capital will sell some goods to their fellow workers who pay on an installment basis, within two or more months. The period of installment depends on the type of goods. The cooperative is different from rotating savings associations and goods credit in that it is very organized. The workers elect the managers of the cooperative. Although
24 Dunia Fantasi (Dufan) is a game arena near Ancol Beach, Jakarta.
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women dominate the factory floor, no female workers are ever elected as heads of the cooperative. However, this is not the case in the union organizers' election in TC where females can get elected to the top post, as discussed in see chapter 3. The nature of labor activism in TIC has unique features. Here, the female workers are relatively active compared to other female factory workers in Ujungberung. Chapter 3 describes the nature of this activism.
Summary The rise of factories in the Ujungberung area since the early 1970s has brought some socioeconomic changes to local inhabitants. The main livelihood of local inhabitants changed from farm hands to factory workers. Some local inhabitants also developed income-generating activities to support the needs of migrants. In social aspects, native residents as well as migrants needed to adjust to new situations such as crowded areas and polluted environment as well as cultural differences. The non-Sundanese migrants were required to learn the Sundanese language to be able to converse with their Sundanese neighbors. The influx of migrants, particularly Javanese, to the area did not bring any major ethnic conflict with local inhabitants in communities. However, there were some perceptions attached to Javanese and Sundanese workers such as "Javanese's strong work ethic and local inhabitants' indifference. n reality, many workers admitted that Javanese are more diligent than their Sundanese counterparts. This appeared to influence management decisions to promote
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Javanese workers. More Javanese occupied higher positions compared to Sundanese. The case of TIC also showed that many workers were dissatisfied with management in terms of the amount of annual wage increase, set of allowance (e.g., food canteen), and social benefits (e.g., polyclinic facility). Besides these dissatisfactions, gender also underlies the segregation of male and female workers in factory work and the hierarchical structure. In TIC and other spinning mills, women dominated positions for machine tenders and operatives, while machine technicians and other auxiliary workers were men. Furthermore, while women workers have been described as "dexterous and "diligent, none of them was promoted beyond the lowest supervisory level (group leader)positions that differed little from those of production workers. All women were under the authority of male supervisors and managers in the formal authority hierarchy (cited in Lee 1993). In addition, women workers were excluded from getting family allowances. The assumption that women workers are secondary income earners has disadvantaged them from getting family allowances, especially when many TIC women workers are main income earners. The next chapter examines some collective and individual actions taken to overcome the dissatisfaction at work.
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CHAPTER 3
THE NATURE OF LABOR ACTIVISM: OVERT AND COVERT ACTIONS
The concentration of industries in West Java, while economically favorable to the growth of domestic regional products, has also contributed to the increase of labor unrest in the area. However, the level of labor unrest differs from one industrial center to another. While the Tangerang area, for example, has been known as the seat of labor unrest in West Java, the Ujungberung industrial area in Bandung City, the study site, has a low level of labor unrest. Why the Ujungberung area displays less militancy is the subject of this chapter. This chapter first describes the general condition of labor activism in Indonesia. Then labor activism in TIC, divided into overt actions and covert actions, will be discussed. Since labor unions also shape workers' militancy, this chapter will include a brief profile of the SPN where women workers in TIC are its members.
Labor Activism in Indonesia The ndonesian government's Manpower Department estimates that the number of strikes in the country grew from 61 in 1990 to 287 in 1997 (Depnaker 2001 cited in Silvey 2003, 135). However, while the rate of strikes has decreased in the 2000s, it is still higher than the 1990 figures. Official report (see table 10) states that in the year 2005, 78 strikes took place within Indonesi a, 22 (28.2 percent) of which occurred in West Java. In 2004, meanwhile, the number of strikes in West
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Java reached 39 (34.8 percent). The data shows that labor unrest in Indonesia, as in many cities, has been concentrated in industrial centers in West Java.
TABLE 10 INDUSTRIAL ACTION (2001-2005) Year 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 Total number of strikes in Indonesia
109,845 97,325 68,114 48,092 56,082 Work hours lost
1,165,032 769,142 648,253 497,780 766,463 Source: Depnakertrans, Ditjen. Pembinaan Hubungan Industrial (2001-2005).
The highest number of strikes in West Java occurred in Tangerang. By the 1980s, Tangerang was already characterized as an area where strikes often took place. In 1989, three-fourths of all strikes were concentrated in Tangerang (Kammen 1997 cited in Saptari forthcoming). It has gone way past the rate of strikes in other industrial centers such as East Java (Surabaya-Malang-Mojokerto-Gresik). A large number of strikes in Tangerang happened in TFG establishments. The Department of Manpower reported that 55 strikes in 2005 and 91 strikes in 2004 occurred in the manufacturing sector. The average number of strikes in the manufacturing sector reached 70 percent from 2001 to 2005 (see table 10). However, some labor activists estimated that the number of strikes in Indonesia, particularly in West Java, has gone beyond the official reports since many strikes go unreported.
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The general increase in labor unrest in the 1990s within Indonesia was caused by three main factors. First, historically, under the New Order Era (1965- 1998), the Indonesian Government only permitted one official labor union, namely, SPSI (Serikat Pekerja Seluruh Indonesia or All ndonesia Workers' Union) to be established. The government-sponsored status limited its effectiveness because SPSI acted more as an instrument of state control rather than as a workers' representative, making it unable to protect and improve the needs of the workers (Hadiz 1997; Lubis 1979 cited in Rinakit 1999; Rigg 1997 cited in Silvey 2003). In addition, the government's responses to labor unrest were also very oppressive. However in the 1990s, workers were slightly freer to express themselves than they had been previously (Rigg 1997 cited in Silvey 2003, 137). In the context of keterbukaan (opening up) in the 1990s, more unions were established, particularly in labor-intensive industries such as textiles, garments and footwear, and the military was less intimidating to workers (Hadiz 1994 cited in Silvey 2003, 138). The door for significant labor reforms opened when Suharto stepped down in 1998. In 2000, the Trade Union Act (Law 21/2000) was passed, which guaranteed freedom of association (i.e., the freedom of workers to establish independent organizations). 1
This dramatically increased the number of independent labor unions which in turn, contributed to the general increase of labor unrest in the 1990s.
1 The freedom of association facilitates the formation of small unions (i.e., ten workers for establishing a union) and encourages fragmentation, especially when multi- unionism is permitted at the enterprise level and when unions can remain unaffiliated to higher-level organizations (see Caraway 2006, 3).
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Second, insufficient wage increases also encouraged the high level of labor unrest. Rigg explains that "workers have termed the low wages as a penghinaan, an insult, to Indonesian people, suggesting that they are aware of international inequalities in wage rates (1997 cited in Silvey 2003, 139). Third is the role of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) in organizing labor action. Many NGO activities and prodemocracy forces focused directly on increasing workers' consciousness and in organizing demonstrations (Djati 1999 and Hadiz 2000 cited in Silvey 2003). Some researchers have noticed that there are more NGOs in the Jabotabek (Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, and Bekasi) area than in the Bandung area (Saptari and Utrecht 1997 cited in Silvey 2003). These three factors may have also contributed to the different levels of strikes in Tangerang and Bandung City, particularly the Ujungberung area. Ford (2001 cited in Silvey 2003) explains that military repression has been more pronounced in the Bandung area. Thus, the labor unrest in Bandung is lower than that in Tangerang. With regard to wage, although workers in Tangerang receive a higher minimum wage, the cost of living in this area is much higher than in Bandung. In other words, real wages in Tangerang are still lower than real wages in Bandung. Therefore, workers in Tangerang have more reasons to stage strikes. The lack of NGO presence in the Bandung area may have also contributed to the low level of militancy in the area. However, these three macro level factors leave the gender dimension of activism unexamined and are insufficient to explain variations in the degree of
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militancy among women workers at the enterprise level. The following section depicts the nature of labor activism in Ujungberung, particularly in TIC, where women make up the majority of employees.
The Nature of Labor Activism in the Ujungberung Area
The picture of West Java as the center of labor unrest is not applicable to all areas within West Java. The Ujungberung area, for instance, is an industrial area with a low level of labor unrest. Within the past six years only a few labor protests occurred and received attention from local newspapers. These protests took place in Kayamatex II and Tiga Negeri Raya (TNR). Kayamatex II is a textile factory in the Ujungberung Subdistrict. When the factory closed in December 2005, around three hundred of its workers held more than six demonstrations because the management did not fulfill its obligation to pay their wage for the last ten months as well as their severance pay. The protest took various forms, from negotiations with the management to violent actions. For example, workers cut the trees in the factory's yard and burned tires, organized strikes in the factory and outside the house of the owner, and rolled an abandoned truck in front of the factory. Nani, a former Kayamatex worker, explains, "We do this because the management has never kept its promise to pay our wage and severance pay. They keep postponing the payment (cited in Pikiran Rakyat, 2 November 2006). The government's intervention did not spur the owner to fulfill its obligation.
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Meanwhile, the workers of TNR received a shock when company officials announced the closing of their factory on 22 August 2006. After recovering from the shock, workers demanded their wage and severance pay. They also asked for their social insurance contribution, which they found out, was never paid by the management to PT. Jamsostek (PT. Jaminan Sosial Tenaga Kerja or the Company of Employee Social Security and Insurance Guarantee). Bipartite or bilateral negotiations between the management and the workers' representatives did not resolve the problem. Afterwards, the workers, with the KASB's (Kongres Aliansi Serikat Buruh Indonesia or the ndonesian Union Alliance's Congress) assistance, went to the Bandung City Representative Councils (DPRD/Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah Kota Bandung) to complain about the company's noncompliance with workers' rights. Soon after, some members of DPRD and officers from the Department of Manpower came to the factory to observe the condition of the factory and to examine why the company was unable to fulfill its obligation (Kompas, 26 September 2006). Two days after this visit, the workers' representative and TNR's management held a meeting that was facilitated by the chairman of DPRD. They agreed to settle the problem through tripartite negotiations (workers, company, and government). After this agreement, the workers stopped their demonstrations (Pikiran Rakyat, 29 September 2006). In TNR, demonstrations did not escalate into violent actions. Although labor protests take place in Ujungberung, they are less militant compared to labor protests in Tangerang.
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Strikes and demonstrations in Tangerang are often colored by violent actions, involving a large number of workers and longer duration of strikes. In 1991, workers held the most dramatic strike from the factories of PT. Gajah Tunggal Group. The strike involved some fourteen thousand workers in the fourteen factories of the Gadjah Tunggal Group who demanded a wage increase (Ford 2003; Saptari forthcoming). This was followed by strikes in other factories in Bogor, Semarang, Solo, and Surabaya. Many of these strikes were large in scale and involved workers from several companies within close vicinity from each other. The strikes also involved a large number of women workers (Saptari forthcoming). Then, in 1999, the workers of PT. Mayora, a biscuit factory in Tangerang, held a strike. It lasted for six days and involved around 1,800 to 2,000 people. The strike continued for two months but with less than a thousand workers involved (ibid.). In 2003, the workers of Starwin, a Reebok shoe company, held a strike for seven days. They also took the general director as hostage and demanded him to step down. They also protested the 100 percent THR because in previous years, the workers received 200 percent. After this move, the company agreed to fulfill the workers' demand but they paid the THR in two terms: the first term was paid soon after the strike and the second term was paid a few months after the first. On 2 February 2004, Starwin officially closed; 3,700 of its workers were threatened with massive dismissal without severance pay. As soon as the workers found out that the company was closed, they held strikes which involved all workers. They were afraid of the experience of workers who were abandoned by the owner of Doson, another
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Reebok shoe factory. About three thousand of Doson's workers did not receive any compensation from the company (see www.tempointeractive.com). In 2004, thousands of workers from a textile factory called PT. Sarasa Nugraha in Tangerang blocked the street in front of the factory for hours. This blockade caused traffic jam. The workers expressed disappointment that the management refused to negotiate with them. Moreover, the workers also clashed with local thugs who were hired by the company to restrain workers from entering the factory. Then, the workers decided to hold a speech program in front of the factory (ibid.). Strikes in Tangerang involve a large number of women workers. Hadiz (1997, 121) observes that female workers dominate labor unrest in Tangerang and many of these female workers play a leading role in labor unrest. Even in some of the more formal gatherings of workers, many female workers tend to be more active and outspoken than their fellow male workers (ibid., 122). In contrast, female workers in Ujungberung are rarely involved in strikes, demonstrations, or workers' gatherings which happen either in the workplace or in public spaces. Although, they join a strike, they prefer to participate outside the circle of labor protesters. Male workers usually organize strikes and demonstrations that take place in the factory or the public space. Male workers also serve as key players in bipartite negotiations in the company. This is particularly the case in Grantex and LAP. Edah, a woman operator from LAP, admits that she does not want to get involved in a strike or a demonstration because she is afraid to be fired. If labor
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organizers force her to join, she prefers to stay behind. Tuti, another LAP worker, agrees with Edah. Tuti explains, "Many women workers in LAP are inactive. They are afraid to get fired and the supervisor often intimidates us (women workers) with bad stories about what happens to labor activists. Strikes in factories in the Ujungberung only involved hundreds of workers for a short duration and never involved many factories within the neighborhood. In LAP, for instance, the strike demanding social security insurance only lasted for three days. The strike was settled through bipartite negotiations between the workers' representative and the management. However, during the negotiation, the management of LAP offered the labor organizer who led the strike a higher position in the factory if he left the union. He took the offer and resigned from the union's structure. After a few years, however, he returned to the union. 2 The reason of his return is unclear. Aside from strikes, workers in Ujungberung have also taken other forms of action. This was exemplified by the protest of Grantex's workers. n 2005, the workers scattered flowers (tabur bunga) in the factory first, as a gesture of sympathy for workers who still receive minimum wage and second, to demand a wage increase. These two actions were organized by SPN. Workers under SPN are discouraged to hold stoppage strikes at the workplace that may disturb production process. This aims to protect workers' livelihood. However, SPN encourages
2 Interview with labor organizers of LAP, Gedebage, 20 September 2006.
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workers to participate in public demonstrations (outside the workplace) that may not endanger their jobs as factory workers (for further explanation, see the next section). The industrial condition of Ujungberung, which has been colored by factory closings and workforce downsizings, seems to prevent workers from factories that still operate actively from taking militant actions. Factory owners have often used the high level of labor unrest as a reason for them to close their factory and move to other areas with low levels of labor unrest. Local governments also discourage workers from holding labor strikes. They encourage workers and members of the community to maintain unity and stability in their area. Moreover, if a strike occurs, the local government will immediately respond to it. As explained by the secretary of the Ujungberung Subdistrict: Di sini jarang ada pemogokan. Beberapa tahun lalu, PT. Bintang Agung mogok. Saat itu kita bareng pihak kepolisian dan depnaker langsung turun ke lapangan untuk memastikan tidak ada aksi anarkis.Ujungberung sih aman. (Strikes have rarely occurred here [in the Ujungberung]. A few years ago, the workers of Bintang Agung held a strike. We (subdistrict officers) immediately went to the factory with administrative village officers, the police, and Department of Manpower officers to prevent anarchy strikes from occurring.Ujungberung is a peaceful area.)
The Ujungberung is known as the homeland of the Sundanese people who consider themselves refined (halus) and civilized (see Bruner 1974). Thus, they appear to disfavor any confrontational actions such as strikes. Within the past six years many factories in Ujungberung have closed down (e.g., Yupatex). Some of these factories, like Fujitex and Gani Arta, moved the operation to other areas. Moreover, most factories in Ujungberung reduced their workforce by more than 50 percent. According to TC's factory manager, this is
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related to the global market instability and the rise of Chinese industries in the global market. Massive strikes or large-scale resistances do not follow factory closing and workforce downsizing. In the case of SPN, its labor officers prefer to negotiate than hold a stoppage strike. For SPN, a strike is the last option after bipartite and tripartite negotiations. As an example, two factories under SPN, Grantex and LAP, have gradually reduced more than half of their workers. Adang, an LAP worker, states that, "LAP has decreased the number of employees from 2,800 to 1,300 within five years. The last workers were recruited in 2002. Grantex, a textile factory, has also experienced a similar situation. Koko, a Grantex worker, explains: Grantex has gradually decreased its workers. There was a time when the number of workers reached 5,000. But now the workers are less than 1,600. The factory does not replace those who left with new workers.
The reduction of workers rarely escalated into a massive or violent protest except in the case of Kayamatex . A labor organizer of SPN explains, "There is nothing to complain about since the management has followed the labor regulation. In addition, the low level of militancy in Ujungberung is also attributed to the labor market instability. In 2006, the level of unemployment in Indonesia has gone beyond eleven million. Within this context, workers will not easily risk their jobs unless the high costs they incur are matched by high rewards (Rutten 2000). The following section depicts the nature of labor activism in TIC.
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Overt and Covert Actions in TIC The form of labor activism in TIC is not necessarily expressed in conflict- oriented strategies such as strikes. Most of the actions come in the form of negotiations or in covert forms of action. The exclusion of women workers in particular jobs (tasks) and authority structures have conditioned them to be more creative in addressing their needs without putting their jobs at stake. This is explained in the daily or "Covert Forms of Action section of this paper. The next section first describes overt expressions of labor activism.
Strike: An overt and organized action TIC has existed for more than thirty years. Despite some financial difficulties, TIC is still known as a factory that is able to fulfill workers' principal rights and provide some workers' benefits. This does not mean, however, that the workers are completely satisfied with company policies. During an interview, for example, a labor organizer states: Tomenbo is relatively better than other companies in Ujungberung. But this does not mean that there is no problem here (Tomenbo). We (labor officers) think that the company can give more than they are giving us now because they always hide their financial report.
This suggests that even in a relatively stable factory, labor protests can still be found, especially when the workers think that the company has the capacity to provide a better working and living condition if they wanted to. The company's financial report is important for the workers, especially during annual wage increase negotiations. The financial report can be a basis for the
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negotiation. The absence of this report somehow leads workers to find other ways to win the negotiation. One way of winning negotiations is through holding a strike. There are several issues that encourage workers to strike in TIC. Annual wage increase. Historically, organized resistance (strikes) related to disagreement on wage increase in TIC occurred twice, in 1996 and 1998. There was no clear explanation about the process of the strike in 1996. However, Titin, a former union leader in TIC, shares what happened in the second strike in 1998. Before the final negotiation with the company, Titin and other labor officers made a plan. If the negotiators return to the office of the trade union, it means the negotiation is unfinished and workers' representatives (perwakilan anggota/PA) are ordered to go to the factory floor to shut down diesel machines. However, they have to make sure that no yarns are broken. Other PA will halt workers' buses which takes next-shift workers. While the workers' representatives are doing their task, the negotiators will go back to the negotiation. They will pretend that they do not know what is happening behind the negotiation process. When the production process stops, all the workers will go out and join the next-shift workers in the factory yard to demand wage increase. The negotiation ended in a deadlock. The company only agreed to a 15 percent minimum wage increase, whereas the workers' negotiators demanded a 20 percent increase. Mr. Matsuda, the TIC director, was mad when he found out that the workers held a strike. Then, he gave another chance for a negotiation, with officers from the Department of Manpower as mediator. They finally agreed with an
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18 percent increase. Soon after, Titin made an announcement about the wage increase and dismissed the workers. Actually, this strike only lasted for a few hours, from 1:30 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. However, within a very short time, SPN (in 1998 still SPTSK, see next section) was able to organize a strike without any violent action and got their demand. During the strike, however, not all the workers understood what happened. Rosa, a newly recruited worker at the time, shares her experience: Saya engga tahu ada apa, kok banyak orang kumpul. Saya baru datang masuk siang. Saya diam dan ikut-ikutan aja karena kenaikan upah engga pengaruh buat saya yang baru masuk. Saya kan tetap terima standar upah minimum. (I did not know what was happening, but many people gathered. I just arrived and I was working for the next shift. I was only quiet and just followed [the strike] because wage increase had no effect on me who just entered the factory. I only received the minimum wage standard.)
Moreover, in the case of TIC, minimum wage increase is not the only issue that can raise a strike. Unfair treatment from the company can also encourage workers to hold a strike. Unfair treatment. Another protest occurred after the 1998 strike. 3 However, the protest only involved ten workers, particularly those who became labor organizers, who were treated unfairly by the marketing manager. The manager tried to find workers' mistakes, particularly the mistakes of Titin, union leader in TC. The manager monitored the workers' attendance. Those who came in late, even for only less than five minutes, had a deduction in salary. The manager warned Titin to
3 There was no information when this exactly happened but Titin guaranteed it occurred after the 1998 strike.
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control the workers, otherwise he will discharge her. Titin informed the workers to be punctual. But it did not stop the manager from finding other mistakes. He took note of workers who did not wear shoes and uniform such as pants, shirt, and hat. As Titin describes: Saya jongkok benerin tali sepatu. Orangnya kan gak gitu liat jelas. Dipikir saya pakai sepatu padahal saya pakai dari rumah. Saya jengkel terus berdiri. Dasar mata kamu picak. Saya pake sepatu dari rumah, semua orang liat hanya kamu saja yang engga lihat. Terus dia diam aja. (I bent to fix my shoelaces. He had problems with his eyesight. He thought that I was just starting to wear shoes at the factory [company policy states that workers should wear shoes from home]. Actually I already wore it from home. I was very upset and stood up. said, "You [the manager] are blind! wore the shoes from home, everyone saw it. It is only you who do not see. He fell silent.)
After this incident, Titin encouraged other disappointed workers to hold a protest. The aim of the protest was to ask the manager to resign. After the protest, the manager resigned but the reason for his resignation was not only because of the workers' protest but also because of suppliers who sent disappointment letters to the head office in Japan. Thus, the manager was asked to go back to Japan even before he finished his ten-year contract with TIC. Moreover, Titin admitted that her position as marketing staff allowed her access to suppliers. She knew that some suppliers were upset with the manager so Titin enraged these suppliers so they would send disappointment letters to the head of office. This protest, however, was less overt compared to minimum wage strikes that covered the majority of workers' interest. This industrial dispute between manager and workers was only experienced by labor officers who were often absent from work and by workers who were treated unfairly. Many workers did not join this
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protest and labor officers did not force other workers to join as well. The labor officers actually planned to hold a bigger protest if the manager was still hired but there was no need to do so since the combination of protest and agitation done by Titin to the suppliers resolved the problem. Although workplace-based strikes only occurred three times within ten years (1996-2006), TC's workers are relatively active in public demonstrations as described below. Public demonstrations: Labor Day and wage increase. Labor protests not only occur in the factory but also in public spaces. Every year, during the Labor Day (May Day) celebration and the annual minimum wage increase, labor organizers in TIC will send the workers to join demonstrations that are usually held in public spaces such as the City Hall and the Center of West Java Government in Bandung City and the House of Representatives in the capital city of Jakarta. Issues raised are related to the demand for a minimum wage that is equal to KHL (Kebutuhan Hidup Layak or Decent Subsistence Needs). Aside from demanding improvements in the working and living condition of the workers, they also demand a fair state labor policy. 4 These are issues under which TIC's women workers are mobilized in public spaces.
4 The main issue of Labor Day celebration in 2006 is linked to the current revisions of the Manpower Act (Law 13/2003) that promote labor flexibility. Carraway (2006, 2-3) explained that "labor flexibility involves making it easier and cheaper for employers to hire and fire workers, easing restrictions on the use of non-permanent labor contracts and outsourcing, giving employers more latitude in determining the length of the working. Thus it may jeopardize the livelihood of factory workers and may weaken the labor unions that rely mostly on permanent workers as their members.
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The number of workers sent by TIC union is always larger than other factories in the Ujungberung area. For instance, during the last annual wage increase strike in 2006, while LAP's union only sent 15 male workers and Grantex sent 10 male workers, TIC sent more than 50 workers consisting of male and female workers. During the Labor Day celebration in 2006, TIC union sent two full buses to Jakarta. The higher level of participation of TIC workers in public demonstrations stem from three reasons. First is the ability of labor organizers at the enterprise level to fulfill the needs (e.g., food and drink) of workers during demonstrations. Ati, SPN's treasurer, explains that the ability of TC's labor organizers to provide meals, drink, and transportation fees amounting to Rp 5,000 per person entice workers to join. Based on the observation during a demonstration in Bandung City Hall involving workers from many factories, it was only the labor union of TIC that provides these needs for members who join a demonstration. Second, Labor Day celebrations or annual minimum wage increase demonstrations are often used by women workers in TIC to relax. Many of these women spend their time not for protesting but for chatting with their fellow workers about their family, boyfriends, and other personal issues. They usually gather outside the crowd of labor protesters. In one demonstration, for example, some women workers brought rujak colek (peanut-sauced fruit salad) that was prepared before they went to the demonstration. They ate it together with their fellow workers.
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According to Ati and Rosa, labor organizers, this is a common practice during a demonstration. Moreover, Kris, the second secretary of the Regional Council Leadership of SPN, complains about this practice. She says: Ibu-ibu kalau pergi demo kaya piknik, bawa bekel makanan terus 'botram'. Bahkan banyak yang enggak tahu agenda aksinya. Jadi kalau ada wartawan yang nanya mereka tampak hanya ikut-ikutan dan tidak tahu apa-apa. Padahal sebelumnya kita sudah kasih pengarahan. Jadi suka bikin malu pengurus. (Older and married women workers go to a strike as if they will go to a picnic. They will bring some food and eat it together with their fellow workers. Furthermore, some of them do not know the agenda of the strike. So, when a journalist asks them, they only look like followers who do not know what the strike is all about. Actually, we [labor organizers] explain it. They embarrass the organizers.)
Besides these two factors, the management's lenient attitude toward workers' participation in public labor protests is also an important consideration for workers to join labor protests. Although the TIC management, like other factories, discourages workplace- based strikes, TC's management is more lenient toward workers' participation in public demonstrations or other labor activities as long as labor organizers ensure that these activities will not disturb the production process. Therefore, before the demonstration begins, the workers' representatives will check those who can join. This datum is also used to calculate the budget that is needed during the demonstration. Those who usually join demonstrations are workers in the afternoon shift (i.e., 2:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M.) because the demonstrations often occur from 9:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M. But if the demonstration takes a longer time, the labor organizers will call the workers from the night shift to join the demonstration. Thus, women workers are more liable to engage in labor activism that will not jeopardize their
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source of income or incur less risk. This means that labor activism also entails the need for survival (Rutten 2000). Public demonstrations occur several times within a year, but workplace-based strikes in TIC only occurred under Titin's leadership (1988-2001). Since Titin stepped down in 2001 the labor activism in TIC has been more colored by nonconflict- oriented strategies such as negotiations. However, the change of leadership was not the only reason for taking a milder form of action. This is described in the next section.
Bipartite negotiation: A persuasive mode of action Labor organizers in TIC conduct bipartite negotiation more often than other modes of action such as strikes. The negotiations usually occur several times within a year. By the year 2000, bipartite negotiations have become the only mode of action done by labor organizers in TIC. They are reluctant to follow their predecessor who combined negotiation with staging a strike to pursue aims. Labor market instability (e.g., workforce reduction) and lack of access to actual factory condition reports have made them hesitant to hold strikes in the factory. Under the new leadership, none of SPN's officers hold a position in the management or the marketing department unlike Titin. Therefore, nobody in the union has access to company reports that are very important in order to understand the real condition of the company. A labor organizer, Ati, explains: Sekarang SPN cenderung mengalah. Dulu Mbak Tin berani gebrak meja karena dia kerja di bagian marketing jadi ngerti kondisi perusahaan. (Now the SPN tends to give in. During Titin's leadership, she was not afraid to slam the
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table [at bipartite negotiations] because she worked in the marketing division, so she knew the actual condition of the company.)
Annual wage increase. The negotiation on the annual wage increase usually occurs at the beginning of the year. The workers and management will negotiate at least five times until they reach an agreement. For most of the PAs, the wage increase negotiation is only a game. Rosa, a PA, believes that the company has already made a decision on how much the increase in minimum wage will be even before the negotiation starts. But the company will open the negotiation with a lower percentage of wage increase than the amount that they decided earlier. This strategy is also played by the labor union officers who start the negotiation with a higher percentage of wage increase than their real offer. Nia, another PA, also supports Rosa's opinion by saying that "the company increases its offer and the union decreases its demand until they meet in the middle. Although Rosa thinks that the negotiation is just a game she still joins this until the company and the workers make an agreement. Nia, meanwhile, refuses to participate after the second negotiation. Moreover, Nia is also upset with labor organizers who just follow the company's game without making an effort to change it. The annual wage negotiation is usually attended by labor union officers, workers' representatives (the workers' negotiators), and the management. On the first and final negotiation, some Japanese board of directors will attend the negotiation. Afterwards, they will delegate the decision making to the factory
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manager and the general manager who are both Indonesians. As soon as they reach an agreement, the company will throw a party in a restaurant which will be attended by the workers' negotiators and the management. Collective Labor Agreement (CLA or Perjanjian Kerja Bersama). The CLA document is renewed every two years. However, in 2006 the company and the workers who were supposed to start the CLA negotiation decided to postpone it. They wanted to focus on wage increase negotiation. Some issues were set to be addressed during CLA negotiations such as family allowance, food allowance, attendance allowance, and other allowances. When the CLA resumed, the result showed that the company only approved less than the workers' initial demands. n fact, the company disapproved the workers' demand to give family allowance f or workers who are widows (see table 11).
TABLE 11 CLA NEGOTIATIONS RESULTS (2004-2006) Issues 2002-2004 2004-2006 The Workers' demand Rp (%) The Company's decision Rp (%) I. Family allowance: Male workers without children 15,000 30,000 (100) 20,000 (33.33) Male workers with 1 child 20,000 35,000 (75) 25,000 (25) Male workers with 2 children 25,000 40,000 (60) 30,000 (20) Male workers with 3 children 30,000 45,000 (50) 35,000 (16.7) Widow workers Same treatment with male workers Exclusive to male workers II. Attendance allowance 20,000 40,000 (100) 30,000 (50) III. Food allowance 2,000 5,000 (150) 2,600 (30) Source: CLA document (2004-2006).
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In the case of family allowance, the workers did not demand the family allowance for all female married workers. Most of the workers, including female workers themselves, still consider female workers as secondary income earners or dependent on men for support. In addition, it was difficult to ask family allowance for all workers, men and women, since some female workers get married with their male counterparts. Thus, there was no urgent demand for family allowance. This is in contrast with the reality that many women workers in TIC are main income earners. This stereotype is supported by labor organizers who do not give a lot of effort in achieving the demand for family allowance for both male and female workers. It is ironic that while the majority of the workers are females, males dominate bipartite negotiations. Although many workers are disappointed with the CLA results, they are unable to argue further with the company. The workers have a low bargaining position, especially in the context of global and labor market instability. During the negotiation, the company keeps telling the workers daek heug henteu kajeun or take it or leave it (interview with Nia, 28 January 2007). Since workers find it diff icult to challenge the company policy through formal outlets and are afraid to engage in direct confrontations, they intentionally or unintentionally create covert ways to express their disappointment with the company's policies or to lessen stressful work. These actions which often oppose company policies will be described in the next section.
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Covert actions n Saptari's definition of resistance (1995), the use of actions (resistances) emphasizes how a worker intentionally and unintentionally, "tries 'to cheat the system' or to mitigate claims made on him/her. 5 Sometimes this intersects with acts of survival. n Nia's case, for example, her income as an operator cannot cover her household expenses, especially because her husband does not have any permanent job. In order to get additional income, she risks selling instant noodles and hot snacks in the factory. This is against the company rules. To lessen the risk, she approaches her group leader and maintains a good relationship with all the workers in the same production line. Moreover, she also keeps the secret relationship between her friend, a female worker, and her married supervisor. She says, "Saya diam aja lagian supervisor jadi lebih baik sikapnya sama saya; ini kan menguntungkan saya juga. (I keep quiet; besides the supervisor becomes nicer to me and that is good for me.) Nia finds that maintaining social networks with fellow workers, the group leader, and the supervisor is very important for the sustainability of her sideline job. In spinning mills like TIC, productivity is very important. Supervisors do not hesitate to warn workers who are less productive. Nevertheless, workers are able to find a way "to cheat the system." The act of cheating is more common among night shift workers. The nature of night shift has less control compared to the morning and
5 Saptari uses Scott's definition of resistance (1986). The term 'to cheat the system' has been used by Fegan (1986 cited in Saptari 1995, 213).
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the afternoon shifts (see chapter 2). Many night shift workers seize the opportunity to take a quick nap or to chat with their fellow workers during work hours. Nia also explains that her supervisor, who is having an affair with a female worker, often disappears for an hour from the workplace. Taking a leave during work hours without prior notification is against the company rules. But since, this act involves a higher authority (supervisor), a group leader cannot do anything about it. Another example of covert action is work slowdown. Some workers slow down work to display their disappointment with their working conditions. The slowdown actions are usually done by locally recruited workers (Sundanese). Unlike Javanese workers who are known as hardworkers, locally recruited workers are quite indifferent. Local Sundanese admit that there is no need to do hard work since the company does not belong to the workers but to Japanese. One of these workers says: Kerja secukupnya aja engga perlu cape-cape. Ini kan bukan perusahaan kita yang untung mereka. Kita cuma dapet capeknya aja.(No need to work hard, just enough [work]. This [TIC] is not our company. They [Japanese] benefit while we only get tired.)
These are some examples of slowdown actions in TIC: coming a few minutes late after a break time, talking to fellow workers, and going to the rest room frequently during work hours. These actions often make the group leader (Javanese) upset, but they neglect this complaint. Sometimes, the workers gossip behind the group leader's back about the leader's behavior in front of the supervi sor. Some of them call it "overacting. For these workers, there is not much difference between hardworkers and nonhardworkers in terms of the amount of income, especially when
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the workers in TIC do not work on a piece-rate basis (borongan). The difference of income between a hardworker and a nonhardworker is only in work grade since the nonhardworkers are rarely promoted. Some workers like Rosa are able to confront authority directly. Rosa is known as a bright and brave worker. She has gained popularity since she won a writing competition 6 in the company and received Rp 2,000,000 (US$220). She was also elected as one of the workers' representatives. Therefore, many workers in her department line rely on her when they have a problem with the authorities, especially in relation to the production process. As Rosa shares: Saya ribut sama kepala urusan. Dia memperkenalkan sistem produksi baru yang menurut saya menyulitkan pekerja dan bisa menimbulkan kesalahan. Saya didukung sama teman-teman. Saya ngomong sama dia, tapi dia keukeuh saya jelasin sama dia, kayanya dia tersinggung sama saya terus pergi. Besoknya tetap memaksakan kehendak dia. Tapi saya bilang sama teman-teman untuk tetap kerja dengan cara lama, biar saya nanti ngomong sama pak Krisno. (I had an argument with my supervisor. He [supervisor] introduced a new production system that was more complicated and could cause a lot of mistakes. My friends [workers in the same department line] supported me. I talked to him but he insisted to do it in his own way. I explained my side to him. I thought he was insulted when he left the conversation. The next day, he still asked us to follow his order. But I talked to my friends to work based on previous procedures. I will talk to Pak Krisno [factory manager] later.)
When she shared the story, she admitted that she is actually worried. Thus, she said that she will explain the situation to the labor officers of SPN and ask for support. Covert actions seem to dominate the nature of labor activism in TIC while collective actions that are usually done by SPN officers only occur during annual wage increase and collective labor agreement negotiations.
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SPN and Its Women Members SPN was originally founded as SPTSK (Serikat Pekerja Tekstil Sandang Kulit or the Textile, Cloth, and Leather Trade Union) which was affiliated with FSPSI (Federasi Serikat Pekerja Seluruh Indonesia or The Federation of All Indonesian Workers' Union). SPTSK announced its independence from FSPS in 1998. The decrease of members in textile, cloth, and leather industries owing to labor flexibility (i.e., the increase of nonpermanent labor contracts and outsourcing practices) forced SPTSK to broaden its coverage including manufacture in the general, trade, and service sectors. In 2001, SPTSK changed its name to SPN. However, unions at some enterprise levels (e.g., Yupatex) refused to join SPN and retained SPTSK.
Aims of the SPN The main aim of SPN is to build solidarity among workers in Indonesia in order to achieve workers' welfare, including their families. The SPN promises to protect and defend workers' rights and interests according to the law and to improve working conditions, including working security, healthy working environment, and work sustainability. SPN also aims to assist, support, and educate workers to improve their knowledge in strengthening labor movement and collective negotiation rights. As a way to improve workers' well being, SPN focuses its energy on ensuring a sufficient and fair remuneration system. In addition, the Central Council Leadership
6 The theme was strategies to improve productivity.
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also encourages all SPN members to resist the revision of Labor Law No. 13/2003 that jeopardizes workers' livelihood. Therefore, in annual events (e.g., annual minimum wage increase demand and Labor Day celebration), SPN brings up these issues. SPN discourages workers from taking up violent stoppage strikes and instead emphasizes the technical enhancement of workers' negotiating skills and the raising of their awareness of labor laws and regulations. Therefore, SPN is quite active in providing labor trainings to organizers at the enterprise level. SPN collaborates with local and international NGOs to organize labor trainings. Stoppage strikes will only be taken if bipartite negotiations end in deadlock. This strategy appears to contribute to the general low level of militancy in Ujungberung.
Members and financial support The members of SPN in 2006 totaled six hundred thousand from nine provinces. In West Java 178,000 workers joined SPN with nine thousand workers from Bandung City. In TIC, more than seven hundred workers registered as members of SPN and about six hundred are women workers. The members of SPN are obliged to contribute 0.5 percent of their minimum wage for union dues. This member contribution will be used to cover operational expenses (i.e., office, electricity and phone bills, and organizers' fee). First-time contributors, however, are required to pay a percent of their minimum wage and 0.5 percent for the following months as long as they are members of SPN. To take an example, based on the minimum wage standard in
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Bandung City in 2006 (i.e., Rp 746,500), a new member is required to pay Rp 7,400 (less than US$1) and Rp 3,700 monthly. SPN applies a check-off system where union dues are automatically deducted from the salary of its members. The distribution of members' contributions is divided among labor unions at the enterprise, city, regional, and national levels. The union at the enterprise level will receive 50 percent while the rest is distributed to SPN at the city level (30 percent), regional level (10 percent), and national level (10 percent). Dede, the president of Branch Council Leadership (Dewan Perwakilan Cabang) of SPN, explains: We cannot rely on member contributions. The amount of contributions is too little and it cannot cover the operational expenses of SPN. We need to find other financial resources.
The report of members' contribution use is released every three months. Labor organizers at each level prepare this report. SPN has several financial resources such as cooperatives, international funding agencies, and international trade union aids. For the past few years, ACILS (American Center for International Labor Solidarity) has supported some projects of SPN such as labor trainings. SPN manages its project expenses so they can save from it (interview with SPN officers, September 2006). The following is the description of the organizational structure of SPN, particularly in Bandung City, at the enterprise level.
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Organizational structure Similar with other trade unions, the organizational structure of SPN starts from the highest to the lowest level (i.e., national, regional, local, and enterprise levels). Figure 8 presents an organizational chart of SPN.
FIGURE 8 THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF SPN
Source: Statutes and Rules of Association of SPN (6 June 2003). The trade union leadership (Pimpinan Serikat Pekerja/PSP) is a representative of SPN at the enterprise level. The PSP of TIC is responsible to the Branch Council Leadership (Dewan Pimpinan Cabang/DPC) of SPN in Bandung Central Council Leadership (National) Regional Council Leadership Branch Council Leadership Trade Union Leadership Trade Union Leadership Trade Union Leadership Union Members Union Members Union Members
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City. The board formation of DPC consists of the president (male) and three vice- presidents (two males and one female), and secretary and vice-secretary (males). Thus, the board formation is occupied by only one female, Wati, a TIC worker who was elected as third vice-president and is in charge of educational programs for workers. Actually, there is a need to include more females in the organizational structure, since the majority of SPN's members are women workers. Participation of women in these activities may affect policies concerning such issues as childcare, pay equity, family allowance, clinic facility, and others. Moreover, the presence of more women in leadership may stimulate greater involvement by rank-and-file women (Melcher et al. 1992). In the case of TIC, however, more female workers become officers of PSP. The board formation of PSP consists of a president (male), four vice-presidents (two males and two females), a secretary (male), and a treasurer (female). The first and fourth vice-presidents and treasurer are usually female workers. The first vice- president is responsible for organizational issues and the fourth vice-president is in charge of workers' welfare. Meanwhile, the second and third vice-presidents are responsible for legal advocacy, sports, and art, respectively. Thus, there are three women and four men in the organizational structure. In additi on, female workers dominate the workers' representatives' position. This shows that more females participate in the organizational structure in PSP compared to DPC. However, the female officers of PSP only deal with issues that may perpetuate their gender roles. n reality, the workers' welfare issue under the fourth vice-president is very crucial.
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But the fourth vice-president only acts as a note taker of the problems related to workers' welfare (e.g., family allowance, health care service, and working conditions). The decision whether the issues of workers' welfare will be part of bipartite negotiations or not depends on the labor officers' meeting. Although they raise these issues during the negotiations, the company will easily refuse to fulfill their demands since labor union officers do not have a basis to back up their demands. The PSP only focuses its energies on collective actions and labor trainings. They do not pay attention to individual actions on the factory floor unless their actions are detected by the company (see Rosa's case page 115-116). Covert actions only become union's issues when the ways in which the company handles the problem may jeopardize the work sustainability of the workers. As mentioned earlier, women workers make up the majority of the members of SPN in TIC. Six out of about six hundred women workers are actively involved in labor activism inside and outside the workplace. The six women activists perceive the advantages of the labor unions differently from the non-activists, as described in the next section.
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Women workers' perspectives on labor union Women activists see the advantages of joining the labor union differently from non-activists. For the women activists the labor union not only assists them when they encounter industrial relation problems (e.g., unfair treatment from management) but also serves as a means for capacity building, enhancing knowledge, and expanding social networks. Rosa claims, "Aktif di SB banyak manfaat, nambah wawasan ilmu tentang organisasi, hak-hak pegawai, masalah jender dan UUK, dan juga nambah relasi teman. (There are many advantages I can obtain by getting actively involved in the labor union such as enhancing knowledge about the organization, workers' rights, gender issues, labor law, and having more friends.) Nia supports Rosa's explanation by saying: Bagi saya SB bisa buat pengembangan kapasitas dan memperluas jaringan. Kalau ada pelatihan buruh, saya engga hanya dapat ilmu tapi juga teman dari serikat lain atau pabrik lain.(For me, the labor union can be used for capacity building and to broaden networks. During labor trainings I do not only get knowledge but also friends from other unions or factories.)
Meanwhile, Wati who has more labor unions experience compared to Rosa and Nia, joins the trade union not only to protect workers' rights and enhance knowledge but also because it is an opportunity to join a political party that may allow her to gain more capital. In one conversation, Wati says: I want to join a political party because of the way its work is similar with trade union. Now, I know how the trade union works. Besides, I can get more money from here.
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Actually, she echoes the sentiments of labor officers who already joined a political party or became a caleg (calon legislatif or legislative candidate) for the city, provincial, or national level. Those who are less active in labor activism, however, simply see the labor union as a place to overcome their problems in the factory and an information center, not only about labor regulations but also about other issues that may be irrelevant in terms of trade union roles such as how to get a loan from the factory. As explained by Diah, a TC maintenance, "Kalau ada apa-apa bisa ngadu, ada yang melindungi jadi tidak khawatir. (I can ask protection from the labor union if something happens to me in the workplace; I do not have to worry.) Pipin, a TIC operator, also relies on the union every time she has problems with the factory or needs to ask about some labor regulations or anything else. Table 12 summarizes the advantages that may be gained by being a union member. This description suggests that the more advantages can be obtained from the presence of a labor union, the more its members are willing to get involved in labor union activities. In addition, activists are willing to take the risk of not being easily promoted in the factory as other workers who rarely participate in labor activism. By being activists, they feel needed and important. As explained by Rosa: Kerja memang untuk uang, tapi hidup bukan hanya untuk kerja. Sejak aktif di serikat buruh banyak orang kenal saya dan saya merasa dibutuhkan. Sebelum saya gabung di SB engga ada orang yang peduli sama saya. Tapi sekarang mereka peduli dan mengakui keberadaan saya. Waktu pergi ke pasar, orang menghargai dan nanya, mau pergi kemana? (Work is for money, but we live not only to work. Since joining the labor union, many people knew me and I felt needed. Before, nobody cared about me. But now,
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they do care and acknowledge my presence. When I go to the market, people respect me and ask where I am going.)
TABLE 12 ADVANTAGES GAINED BY ACTIVISTS AND NON-ACTIVISTS IN LABOR UNION
Advantages Activists Non-activists Labor union as a medium to address industrial relation issues V V Labor union as an information center V V Labor union as a medium for capacity building and enhancing knowledge V - Labor union as a medium for expanding social networks/gaining a certain social status V - Source: Interview with women workers (September-January 2006).
They also want to make significant changes. Intentions to make significant changes usually come after they attend labor trainings or join discussions with other activists. These cases also show that labor organizers have a higher social status compared to non-labor organizers. This status may enhance social capital that is not necessarily economic but political, especially in the case of Wati. These differences may contribute to the degree of militancy among the women workers in TIC.
Experiences that lead to labor activism Women workers in TIC have different experiences that lead them to become labor activists. In the case of Rosa, a problem with the company encouraged her to learn about labor regulations and workers' rights, which spurred her to be a labor organizer in TIC. As narrated below: Pertama kenal SPN, karena saya di SP. Ketahuan duduk oleh Jepang saat kerja, setengah jam mau pulang. Sudah beres semua. Saya santai duduk di
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roda lihatin mesin sambil pake kerudung. Ada Jepang..aku dilaporin. Saya disuruh nandatangan SP oleh karu saya. Saya enggak tahu apa-apa. Udah Ria tandatangan aja karena enggak akan mempengaruhi golongan dan gaji kamu, enggak akan dipecat. Saya enggak ngerti Saya tanda tangan. Terus ada panggilan dari advokasi SPN mbak Wati. Suruh membuat berita acara. Kata Wati, harusnya kamu jangan tanda tangan kalo enggak merasa salah. Saya memang tidak merasa salah.Kata Kaur, mau lapor kemana-mana juga enggak bisa ditarik karena kamu nandatangan. Iya juga saya jadi gondok. Kalau operator di SP Karu jg di SP. Karu saya diam saja. Kita punya sedikit ideologi, Saya enggak mau diem saja. (I knew more about SPN when I got a warning letter from the company. About thirty minutes before my work ended, I was sitting on the trolley and watching the machine. I was wearing my veil. A Japanese boss saw me and reported me [to the supervisor]. Then, my group leader asked me to sign a warning letter. The group leader said, "Just sign the letter, it will not affect your salary and work grade. You won't get fired. did not know anything, so I just signed it. Then, an advocacy team of SPN [Wati] called me and asked me to write a report about what had happened. Wati advised me not to sign anything if I was not guilty. But then my supervisor said, "Even if you report the case, it cannot be canceled because you signed it already. t was true. felt so stupid. f an operator gets a warning, its group leader will get it also. My group leader just kept quiet. I have ideology [to defend workers' rights] so will not keep quiet about this.)
After this incident, she started to join labor union activities. In 2004, she was elected to represent workers in her department line in labor meetings, bipartite negotiations, and labor trainings in and outside the factory. Meanwhile Wati, the third vice-president of Branch Council Leadership (Dewan Perwakilan Cabang/DPC) of Bandung City, started to get involved in labor activism at the enterprise level when the union leader of SPN in TIC, Titin, offered her to join labor training. As she recalls: Awal ditawari pendidikan perburuhan oleh Mbak Titin, nyambung dengan pengalaman saat SMA. Tidak pernah terbayang kegiatan perburuhan kaya apa. Di awal sempat stress karena harus berhadapan dengan perusahaan karena dibelakang kita banyak yang bergantung. (Titin encouraged me to join a labor training. It was related to my organization experience in high school. I never imagined what labor activism would be. In the beginning [first labor
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negotiation], it felt stressful because we have to deal with the company. Meanwhile, many people [workers] relied on us.)
After she accepted Titin's offer, she was elected in the union's organizational structure at the enterprise level. From the union enterprise level, Wati moved up to the DPC of Bandung City. In 2000, she was elected to be the third vice-president of DPC. Titin was the one who promoted Wati in DPC. In the case of Nia, the strike in 1998 aroused her curiosity about labor activism. Soon after the strike, she started to discuss labor issues with some labor organizers, but her activities outside the factory did not give her much time to get actively involved in the labor union. In 2004, she was elected to represent the workers in her department line and started to get involved in bipartite negotiations and labor trainings. These young women activists in TIC are quite outspoken. In fact, some of them do not hesitate to speak in front of hundreds of factory workers as well as in meetings with government officers. Rosa states: Kalau kita didalamnya baru saya ngerasa memang kita harus. Saya sempat orasi di DPRD kota Bandung di depan 600 orang. Kita memperjuangkan hak kita karena kita mengerti. Saya dan Nia gantian. (When we hold strikes I feel that we have to do this [strike]. I orated at the House of Representatives in Bandung City in front of six hundred people. We fight for our rights because we understand [the condition]. Nia [labor organizer] and I made orations alternately.)
During a hearing about education with The Representative Council of Bandung City (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah/DPRD Kota Bandung) on 29 November 2006, Wati demonstrated her ability to speak in front of the members of
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DPRD and journalists. These three cases have shown various events that underlie their decision to be labor activists.
Summary The high level of labor unrest during the 1990s was seen in Tangerang, West Java. Meanwhile, the Ujungberung area, another industrial area in West Java, remained relatively calm and less militant. Previous researches mentioned that strong state repression, higher real wages, and the lack of NGOs in Ujungberung, Bandung City contributed to the low level of militancy in the area compared to Tangerang. In addition, the nature of Sundanese-dominated communities that give high value to stability and unity seemed to contribute to the lack of militancy in Ujungberung. What appears on the macro level also holds true on the micro level. Workers in Ujungberung, exemplified by the case of TIC, prefer to take the negotiation mode or covert actions as acts of resistance instead of stoppage strikes in order to address workplace issues. Women workers, in particular, develop covert actions in the factory floor to address their problems without putting their jobs at risk. The covert actions are beyond SPN's coverage but they will become a union matter if the company notices and the action may endanger the workers' livelihood. The SPN's platform which discourages workers from going on stoppage strikes at the enterprise level may also contribute to the general low-level militancy in Ujungberung. Although the level of strikes in TIC is quite low like other factories in Ujungberung, it is relatively easier for women workers in TIC to join a public
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demonstration that incur less risk and is less time consuming. The ability of the labor union at the enterprise level to provide for the needs of workers during demonstrations, the ways women workers give a positive valuation to a public demonstration, and the lenient attitude of management toward participation of workers in labor activism, particularly public demonstrations, are some factors that contribute to the higher involvement of TC's women workers in public rallies. In other words, although the nature of labor activism in TIC paints the picture of Ujungberung as a low-level militancy area, labor organizers at the enterprise level still encourage its members to get involved in public demonstrations or to at least threaten management with strikes. This is also a strategy of the labor union to address industrial condition (e.g., annual wage increase and unfair labor regulations) issues without direct confrontations with the company that may jeopardize workers' source of income, particularly within the context of global and labor market instability. In the case of TIC, more women workers hold positions in the union structure compared to other factories in Ujungberung. Of seven positions in the PSP of TIC, women workers hold three. In fact, for more than ten years, the PSP was under a woman's leadership. Women activists in TC see different advantages that can be gained from a labor union. They do not only see the labor union as a medium to address industrial relation problems and as a center of information, as the majority of women workers in TIC do, but also as a medium for capacity building, enhancing knowledge, and expanding social networks. These differences may also contribute to the degree of militancy among women workers. Moreover, some TIC women
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workers have various experiences that led them to be labor activists. Experiences such as unfair treatment from the company, curiosity, and an invitati on from a senior labor activist led these women workers to labor activism. However, to understand women's activism more deeply, explanations must not only examine the actions of organizers or conditions where women workers are mobilized, but also the women themselves and the ways they interpret conditions surrounding them. The next chapter focuses on the sources of women workers' activism.
121 CHAPTER 4 SOURCES OF IDENTITY THAT ENABLE AND CONSTRAIN WOMEN WORKERS' ACTVSM
In order to understand the formation of women worker activists, the study looks not only into social structures but also to agency or to the women workers themselves. This understanding parallels the importance Woodward (2000) gives to social structures as well as to individual decisions in the formation of identity. But structural conditions that appear to affect women workers' activism, as described in chapters 2 and 3, for instance, are insufficient to explain variations in the degree of women workers' involvement in labor activism. Focusing on agency may reveal more, especially the capacity of women workers to challenge structural constraints and to reconstruct their own identity in order to participate actively in labor activism. This chapter focuses on the narrations of ten women workers in TIC and the case of an ex-TIC woman worker who was able to achieve the top executive position in the union at the enterprise level. With these cases, the study hopes to describe the ways in which these women workers give importance to their sources of identity. This study also hopes to help explain women workers' activism. Sources of identity such as age, gender roles, marital status, migration status, ethnicity, and social networks are clues to understanding women workers' decision to be labor activists (or non-activists). Moreover, as Burke (1980 cited in Sharon
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1998) explains, sources of identity also represent "a source of motivation for labor activism.
The Ten Women Workers
All women workers in TIC, except women in managerial positions, are registered as members of the SPN. Nevertheless, union membership does not automatically put these women workers under the category of labor activists. Among the ten TIC women workers who are the focus of this study, six are labor activists and four are non-activists. The six labor activists engage in overt and covert actions that take place inside and outside the factory. Three of them hold positions in the union's organizational structure at the enterprise level, two are workers' representatives, and one has been elected as a labor officer in the DPC of Bandung City. Meanwhile, the non-activists, like the majority of women workers in TIC, prefer not to get involved in the union structure and labor organizing processes. Two of these non-activists, although uninvolved in labor union activities, still show a certain degree of resistance through covert actions like work slowdown, gossip, and so on. The remaining two fully restrain themselves from overt and covert actions. However, these two are still union members. Who are the ten women workers? This section is divided into three parts: demographic characteristics, household characteristics, and economic background which include reasons for seeking factory job. The exploration of women workers'
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characteristics and background may give a better understanding of their decision to engage (or not engage) in labor activities.
Demographic characteristics Of the ten women workers, eight are from non-local origins (i.e., two commuters and six migrants). Five of those from non-local origins are labor activists. The workers from non-local origins came from neighboring regions and other provinces in or outside the Java Island. Of the eight, three are Sundanese, three are Javanese, and two are Batak. This supports the fact that women workers in TIC come from different ethnic groups. Since 2000, as mentioned in chapter 2, married women workers with one to three children have dominated the workforce in TIC. Their ages vary from 26 to 46 years old. Nevertheless, those below 35 years old still dominate TIC employment. It is not surprising then, that more young women workers participate in labor activism. Of the ten women workers, four started to engage in labor activism when they were still below 25 years old and single. But one (Pipin), withdrew from labor union activities as soon she got married. In addition, all except two women workers are affiliated with Islam while two are affiliated with Protestantism. Table 13 summarizes the demographic characteristics of the ten women workers who served as this study's informants.
Household characteristics Seven out of the ten women workers are the main income earners of the household. Their husbands are either unemployed or irregularly employed and earn
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TABLE 13 DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INFORMANTS
Informants Place of origin Ethnic group Age at start of activism/ current age Current Marital status/No. of children Marital status/ No. of children at start of activism Religion L a b o r
a c t i v i s t s
1. Wati Cicalengka Sundanese 20 / 28 Married (M)/1 S Islam 2. Rosa Purwokerto Javanese 27 / 29 Single (S) S Islam 3. Nia Kebumen Javanese 23 / 29 M/1 M/1 Islam 4. Putri North Sumatera Batak 22 / 27 M/1 S Protestant 5. Wida Ujungberung Sundanese 22 / 26 M/0 S Islam 6. Ati Cibaduyut Sundanese 27 / 45 M/3 M/1 Islam N o n - a c t i v i s t s
7. Parmi Purworejo Javanese - / 46 M/2 - Islam 8. Diah Ujungberung Sundanese - / 27 M/1 - Islam 9. Pipin Cileunyi Sundanese 24 / 30 M/3 S Islam 10. Nana North Sumatera Batak - / 27 S - Protestant Source: FGD (22 Sept 2006) and in-depth interviews (Sept-Dec 2006).
less than the wives. The remaining three women act as secondary income earners. Being a secondary income earner means that the husband's income is just a bit more than the wives. Thus, the wives' income remains important for the sustainability of the household. The household size of these women varies from one to seven members. Some have parents-in-law and sisters-in-law residing with them. The majority of these women has lived separately from their parents (neolocal), either renting a room or owning a small house, except two. One (Rosa) still live with her parents (matrilocal), whereas another one (Diah) lives with her parents-in-law/husband (virilocal). Young married women like Wati, Wida, and Pipin are able to own houses through the support of their parents. Meanwhile, Ati bought a
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house through her husband and Parmi acquired a house through her own savings. Of the ten informants, two (Pipin and Diah) live in the same neighborhood with their extended families or kin members. Living with kin members appears to constrain their participation in labor activism. This is summarized in Table 14.
TABLE 14 HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INFORMANTS Informants HH size House ownership/type of residence Husband's work status Woman's income rank L a b o r
a c t i v i s t s
1. Wati 3 Owned/neolocal Irregularly employed Primary 2. Rosa 3 Owned by parents /matrilocal - Primary 3. Nia 2 Rented/neolocal Irregularly employed Primary 4. Putri 4 Rented/neolocal Employed Secondary 5. Wida 2 Owned/neolocal Employed Secondary 6. Ati 5 Owned/neolocal Self-employed Primary N o n - a c t i v i s t s
Economic background and reasons for seeking factory employment
The ten women workers were recruited for factory work when they were in their late teens or early twenties and had no previous factory work experience. They also entered TIC as single or unmarried women. TIC, like other manufacturing industries in Indonesia, prefer to employ young women owing to assumptions of their productivity and flexibility (Brydon and Chant 1989; Safa 1981; Wolf 1999).
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The eagerness to gain some financial autonomy from the family and the lack of alternative jobs are major reasons why young women seek factory employment. As Wati, daughter of an ex-factory worker explains, "Saya ingin punya uang sendiri, biar bisa beli apa aja yang saya pingin tanpa minta orang tua. (I want to have my own money so I can buy what I want without relying on my parents.) n Putri's case, meanwhile, a combination of social and economic reasons underlies her decision to engage in factory work. Her younger sister, who dropped out of school because of financial difficulties in the family often criticized her lifestyle as inconsiderate to the family's financial problems. This forced her to seek a job and at that time, factory work was the only available job. Factory employment lessened Putri's dependency on her parents, particularly since her father does not have a permanent job. In the case of Parmi who only graduated from elementary school, factory employment is a means of raising her harga diri (dignity) as a person. For her, financial autonomy and factory work symbolized a higher dignity. Parmi's father, who worked as an agricultural laborer in Purworejo, Central Java, could not afford to send her to school to pursue her studies beyond the elementary level. Parmi was accepted in Tomenbo in 1978. At the time in the 1970s, the company did not pay attention to educational background in recruiting workers (see chapter 2). For Rosa, the reason for joining factory work is more complicated. In the beginning, she thought that working in the factory would allow her to pursue high education since her family could not support her. Her father's salary as a printing company worker was insufficient to support his three children into university. Rosa
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planned to study in the Open University (Universitas Terbuka). 1 Studying in this university would let her work and study. But, after two years of saving, she had to let her dream go; she used her savings to pay a younger sister's entrance fee who was accepted in a university. Wati, Putri, Diah, Wida, Pipin, and Rosa accepted factory work in TIC as their first job. Meanwhile, Parmi, Ati, and Nia had experienced being in and out of work until they got factory employment. Nia was accepted in TIC in 1995. Initially, she wanted to find a better job, but her senior high school diploma did not give her many alternatives. These cases support Wolf's (1990) study in Central Java showing that the reasons young single women seek factory employment is most related to personal, social, and economic reasons, and not for contributing to the family income. In fact, one worker, Nia, still gets financial support from her family. The women workers whose reason for seeking factory employment is to gain financial autonomy appear to be more active labor protesters than those whose reason is to support family economy. However, after several months of working in the factory, some women also decide to contribute to the family income. Rosa, Putri, Diah, Parmi, and Wida use a portion of their salary to support the needs of the family. Rosa has to spare some of her salary for the medical treatment of her mother who has been sick for years. She
1 The University opens classes for government officers, workers, and others. who cannot attend the class regularly. The studies are mostly held on module basis and consultation with the professor.
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takes turns with her older brother and younger sister to cover the medical treatment. Putri, meanwhile, supports her parents who are irregularly employed. However, the reasons for working in the factory shift to family survival as soon these single workers get married and have babies. Table 15 summarizes the primary reasons women give in seeking factory employment.
TABLE 15 REASONS FOR SEEKING FACTORY WORK Reasons Activists Non-activists To gain financial autonomy 4 - Lack of alternative jobs 2 1 To improve/support family economy - 2 To raise dignity - 1 Total 6 4 Source: In-depth interviews (Sept-Dec 2006).
This discussion of demographic and household characteristics as well as economic background sets the stage for discussing sources of identity that may enable (or constrain) people in engaging actively in labor activism.
Sources of Identity of Women Workers The women's resistance as workers is shaped by the interplay of macro and micro factors, which include their sources of identity. In the framework, sources of identity are divided into ascribed (ethnicity and age), achieved (marital status and migration status), and the combination of both (gender roles, social networks). Some sources of identity may matter almost all the time while others rarely do (Charon 1998). These sources of identity will be analyzed separately. However, in practice they interact with one another in a very dynamic way (Elmhirst 2004; Silvey 2003;
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Wolf 1999; Smyth and Grijns 1997; Saptari 1995; Bradley 1997 cited in Haralambos and Holborn 2004). The concept of sources of identity is applied in understanding the reasons that underlie women workers' decision to be active or inactive labor protesters. For the purpose of analysis, this section is divided into women activists and non-activists. This section attempts to reveal how women activists and non-activists give importance to their sources of identity.
The non-activists Of the ten women workers, four consider themselves as "regular members. They see the labor union as a medium to overcome workplace problems and as an information center like the majority of their fellow women workers. As a workers' representative states: Mereka kalau ada butuh baru datang ke pengurus kalau engga acuh tak acuh. Mereka nyerahin semuanya ke kita. Tahunya beres, gaji naik segini. Kalau diajak ikut pertemuan susah banyak alasan.kayanya bukan keluarga yang engga mendukung mereka aja yang engga mau. (The majority of TIC workers only goes to see the union officers when they need something. Otherwise, they just do not care. They leave everything to us. They only want to know the result, like how much the wage increased. They are difficult to invite to labor meetings because they have too many excuses. I think the problem is not family discouragement. They just do not want to join.)
The four women workers, like the majority of TIC women workers, are reluctant to join formal forms of labor activism such as labor trainings and labor meetings that may take their time from families and work. Nevertheless, some women workers still use covert actions in showing their discontent with management policies and other workplace problems. How do the four women workers give importance to their
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sources of identity? How do these sources of identity shape their activism as women factory workers? Age, marital status, and gender roles. Since more than two decades ago studies on women workers' consciousness have shown that women's family roles and their sexual subordination at home make women "less liable to organize (Rowbotham 1972 and Safa 1979 cited in Berger 1983). Labor organizers in TIC also encounter the same situation. According to Titin, the first secretary of the Regional Council Leadership in West Java (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah/DPD Jawa Barat), women worker activists will easily withdraw from labor activism as soon they get married and have kids. This is different from male workers who are still active in labor activism even though they are married and have kids. She explains: Laki-laki lebih mudah diorganisasi. Tidak seperti perempuan setelah menikah, biasanya oleh suaminya tidak diperbolehkan aktif. Belum lagi kalo memiliki anak jadi lebih susah lagi diorganisasi. Banyak kejadian seperti itu kaya di Yuntex dan Fujitex. Sebagian besar kader di SPN seperti itu. (Male workers are easier to organize unlike women who, after getting married, will not join the union anymore because their husbands would not allow them. Also, having kids make women more difficult to organize. There are many cases like that between Yuntex and Fujitex women workers. It happens to most women cadres in SPN.)
This is exemplified by the case of Pipin, a thirty-year-old mother of three. She recalls that her life has changed since she got married and had children. When she was still single she used to go out with friends and even travel out of town just to join a labor demonstration. Now she builds her life around work and family. She says that her husband discourages her from joining labor union activities that will demand much time outside the house. Her husband only allows her to get involved in activities that
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are less time-consuming such as aerobic groups and rotating savings associations, activities that are women-dominated and usually take place in the community. During an interview, she admits that this situation often leaves her stressed out but she cannot do anything about it. She justifies it by saying, "Jadi istri harus nurut keinginan suami, lagian anak-anak perlu perhatian. (As a wife I should follow my husband's will. Besides, the children need my attention.) Diah shares a similar experience with Pipin. But unlike Pipin who still shows interest in getting involved in labor activism, Diah fully restrains herself from joining. She reasons out: Saya dukung dibelakang tapi saya enggak pernah aktif di SPN, ikut demo. Hanya sebagai anggota. Lagian kalau maintenance susah ikut karena dibutuhkan dan lagi saya punya bayi yang perlu perhatian saya. (I support SPN from behind but I am not active and never take part in strikes. I am just a member. Moreover as a maintenance worker, it is difficult to join [labor activities] because we are needed at work. I also have a baby who still needs my attention.)
After giving birth, she rarely leaves her house for a long time except to work, as shown by her daily schedule. Diah rises at 5:00 A.M. and spends two-and-a-half- hours doing household chores (i.e., washing clothes, cleaning the house, buying food, bathing and feeding the baby) and prepares herself to go to work at 7:30 A.M. She returns from work at 5:00 P.M. and spends her time with her baby, reading the holy Qur'an, and watching TV. She goes to sleep at 9:00 P.M. She works in non-shift from 8:00 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. She only goes out every weekend to join a holy Qur'an recital group (kelompok pengajian) with her ex-high school friends. This activity never lasts more than two hours. Her case shows that her identity as a mother and a wife who is responsible for childcare and maintaining domestic chores is salient to
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her. She restrains herself from engaging in activities that may constrain her from fulfilling her roles as a fulltime mother and wife. In addition, she cannot afford to regard her work as secondary since she is the main income earner in the household. Her husband is unemployed. Diah's case also highlights the fact that taking the role of the main income earner does not necessarily mean that division of labor in the household will be shared equally between its members. Although her husband has more free time, he rarely does household chores. The two cases above emphasize the importance of gender roles in a marital context (women's family roles and sexual subordination at home) in suppressing women workers' militancy. n fact, gender roles not only affect married women workers but also those who are unmarried, as shown by Nana's case. As mentioned earlier, more labor activists started to engage in labor activism when they were still young and single. However, this is not the case with Nana, a twenty-seven-year-old TIC woman worker. Her single status does not make her prone to militancy. Although she has fewer domestic chores, she still has familial economic obligations like supporting five of her younger siblings. Before she migrated to Bandung City, her parents placed the four siblings under her responsibility. Therefore, she cannot jeopardize her important income by taking part in labor activism. In fact, since the factory income is very limited and insufficient to support her expenses, she uses her spare time to run usaha kecil-kecilan or a small business that will give her an additional income.
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Meanwhile, an older woman worker, Parmi, forty-six years old, does not see the importance of engaging in labor activism especially since she is approaching retirement age. She does not want to put herself into trouble until her retirement comes. She justifies it by saying that the labor organizers' position is only meant for those who have a better education as well as younger people who have less responsibility to their family. She also adds that women her age will find it difficult to get another job if the company discharges her because of her involvement in labor activism. As Parmi narrates: Kita harus kerja keras dan nurut sama aturan perusahaan. Kalo kita dipecat engga tau lagi kemana harus cari kerja lain. Siapa yang mau nerima yang udah tua kaya kita? Dapatin kerja kan udah susah buat anak muda, apalagi buat kita. Serikat buat yang muda saja. (We [old and married women] have to work hard and comply with factory rules because if we are fired we don't know where we would get new jobs. Who will hire old women like us? Getting jobs is already difficult for young people. It would be more difficult for us. Union involvement is only for young people.)
Parmi sees herself as an uneducated woman unlike many young workers in TIC. Thus, she prefers to delegate labor activism to younger and educated workers. Moreover, in one interview, she explains that at her age it is better to focus on religious activities than labor activism. The religious activities such as pengajian will give her more pahala or merit. In sum, Parmi sees age as an important factor in her decision not to get involved in labor activism, an arena for young and educated women workers. The next section explores other sources of identityethnicity and social networksand their interactions with gender ideologies.
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Ethnicity and social networks. The local Sundanese women workers usually live in the same neighborhood with their kin members. Their exchange networks rely heavily on local, family-based social networks. This composition of social networks appears to be a constraint rather than an opportunity for labor activism, as exemplified by two cases below. Pipin is a thirty-year-old Sundanese woman worker. She lives in a neighborhood that is dominated by her relatives. She describes, "Penduduk di daerah saya hampir semuanya saudara. Bibi saya tinggalnya seberang rumah, ketua RT (Rukun Tetangga) juga masih saudara. (My relatives dominate residents in my neighborhood. My aunt stays just across my house. The neighborhood chief is still my relative.) She gets assistance for childcare and financial support from her relatives. While she is working, her aunt takes care of her children. Her sisters often give financial support for her children's school fees. She also shares her personal problems in the workplace or community with her family. Her husband and her extended families discourage her from joining activities in the labor union, especially strikes and demonstrations. They cite violent strikes that are often shown on TV as a reason for preventing her from joining. Instead, they just encourage her to focus on family matters and women-dominated activities such as arisan. This parallels Silvey's (2003) finding that "Sundanese place a high value on the characteristics of personal reserve and refinement (sopan santun), and saw these traits as ones that women who were settled in a community should manifest. Moreover, the Sundanese also see involvement in strikes as inappropriate behavior for women.
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Pipin's case implies that relying on local and family-based networks constrain her involvement in labor activism, especially when her extended families see labor activism as not suitable for women. Moreover, Pipin's case also shows that married women workers often experience some contradictions in their lives. On the one hand, there is a desire to express themselves in public arenas. On the other hand, they want to fulfill their roles as wives and mothers. At the same time they also have to work because their income is important for family survival. These contradictions have revealed the complicated relation between married women workers and labor activism. Diah echoes Pipin's experience. Diah is a twenty-seven-year-old Sundanese mother of a one-year-old daughter. She lives with her parents-in-law who also live in the same neighborhood with her kin members. Her kin as well as her husband's family always keep their eyes on her. During workdays, she leaves her daughter to be taken care of by her mother-in-law or her sister who also lives close to her. Although her husband is unemployed, he rarely does domestic chores. He helps take care of their baby only once in a while. Diah comments that she cannot complain since she remains dependent upon her husband's family for free lodging and childcare. Thus, although she acts as the main income earner in the family, this does not afford her a higher bargaining position. Diah's case supports the idea that in a patrilocal and virilocal system, a woman has a lower status (Chafetz 1980 cited in Wolf 1991, 129). This condition has constrained her participation in labor union activities as well as other public activities.
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In sum, gender ideals of feminine propriety and maternal responsibility seem to dampen women's participation in labor activism in the Sundanese-dominated community, especially when kin members dominate it. The particular gendered meanings given by kin members as well as domestic partner to labor activism appear to constrain women workers from acquiring the identity as a woman worker activist. Women workers find it difficult to decide the identity that they would l ike to have since they rely heavily on their families for childcare, financial support, and so on. In other words, although these women have strong networks, their networks are not supportive of labor activism. Nevertheless, some women workers are able to challenge these constraints and to prove that being a mother and a wife is not an impediment from being a labor activist. This is explored in the next section.
The activists Out of more than six hundred TIC women workers, only six have been actively involved in labor activism. Five of them, young labor organizers, are below thirty years old or young women workers. Of these five young labor organizers, three hold positions in the union organizational structure (i.e., one is a vice-president of DPC and two are vice-presidents of the union at the enterprise level). The other two are workers' representatives. According to Putri, one of the vice-presidents of SPN in TC, young women workers dominate the workers' representative position. t is logical since young women far outnumber older women in TIC employment. Despite their subordinate position in the workplace, these women are still able to assert their identity as a woman worker activist. They see disadvantages in
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the workplace as a source of opportunity for labor activism that in turn allow them to engage more fully in labor activism compared to majority of TIC women workers. Age, marital status, and gender roles. Of six women worker activists, five started their activism in the labor union at a young age. They are eager to join labor union activities compared to the older ones. Moreover, for them, participating in formal organizations such as a labor union is not a new experience since they were already active in school organizations. Some of them are also still active in youth organizations in the community as well as in religious organizations. However, Ati and Titin are exceptions. They only got involved in labor activism when they were quite old and already married with children. Titin, an ex- union leader of SPN in TIC, sees that age does not limit her involvement in labor activism. In 1988, when she was thirty-two years old, she was elected as a union leader. She held this position until 2001. Now, at the age of fifty, she is still active in labor organizing. In 2004, she was elected as the first secretary of Regional Council Leadership in West Java (Dewan Perwakilan Daerah/DPD Jawa Barat). Titin has become a role model for female labor activists in TIC. The women workers in TIC are impressed by her leadership that shows an ability to balance family, work, and fearless labor activism (see chapter 3). However, she did encounter difficulties in maintaining her roles in these three spheres. In one interview, she recalls: I only started to get involved in labor activism when my second son was five years old. It was in 1985. I think he was big enough to be left with his father. But one time, my husband was so mad at me because I went home at 2:00 A.M. from labor training. My husband said, "You can learn but don't forget about time (jangan lupa waktu)." The biggest obstacle was to manage my time for family and organization (labor union). Household sustainability is still important. I shared domestic chores with my husband. In the morning, I
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cooked and took care of the children and my husband was the one who washed the dishes. When we went to work, my neighbor would take care of the kids. If I would go to Bina Karya, a labor NGO, my husband would get the kids and heat the food. In the beginning, we often had arguments. He said, "You keep going out and nobody takes care of the kids. But after a while, he realized that labor organizing is my hobby.
Now that the children are already adults and she has retired from workthe first son just got married and the second is completing his studies in a universityTitin has more time for herself as well as for labor activism. She spends most of her time for labor organizing activities such as training union members or giving legal aid for those who are having problems at the workplace. n addition, Titin's fellow retiree Pardi often accompanies her to the union office, labor trainings and meetings, and even strikes. Titin has a similar experience with Nia. Although Nia is younger than Titin, she also started to engage in labor activism when she married and had a child. But unlike Titin, Nia does not need to be burdened by childcare. She sent her four-year- old son to be taken care of by her parents in Kebumen, Central Java. Moreover, since her husband is irregularly employed, the household survival relies solely on Nia's income. This condition gives her a higher bargaining position in the household. This can be gleaned from the division of work and decision making found in Nia's household below. Nia and her husband, Didi, agreed to divide household chores. During the morning shift, Nia wakes up at 5:00 A.M. in order to catch 5:30 A.M. factory bus which takes her to the workplace. Her work starts at 6:00 A.M. and ends at 2:00 P.M. While waiting for the factory bus going home, she goes to the union's office. f there are activities in the union, she will stay and join the activities. At home, she usually chats with her friends or neighbors. She rarely cooks, so she buys food for dinner. Her household chores include cleaning the house, washing the dishes, and ironing the clothes. Meanwhile, Didi does
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laundry and cleans the house. The important household decision-making processes such as child education and room renting are decided by Nia. She is also the one who manages and controls household finances. Nia's friends in the factory often tease her by saying, "Nia's husband is afraid of her because she controls everything. Having control over income and decision making puts Nia in a higher position, which in turn, allows her to be active in labor activism. Didi rarely complains. But when Nia is too busy with her union activities, Didi will mock her by saying, "What do you get from joining strikes and labor trainings? Nia just ignores this mocking.
The case of Nia supports Sen's (1990 cited in Kibria 1995, 290) argument that states, "Women's access to wage income has the potential to generate egalitarian shift in gender relations at the household level by providing women the bargaining chips with which to assert power in household decision-making processes; however, this potential for positive change is not always realized. Meanwhile, Wati, Wida, and Putri began participating in labor activism when they were still single. Their composition of social networks allows them to stay as labor activists even when they got married and had children. Some studies show that single women workers are relatively easier to organize than the married ones (see also Andriyani 1996, Kim 1996). As Wolf's (1991) study in Central Java shows, single women workers are subjected to fewer household chores and have more control over their earnings. Their access to an independent wage may allow them to engage in any activity, especially when they have a relatively low regular familial economic obligation as described in the case of Rosa below. The family finance mostly relies on the income of Rosa's father who also works as a factory worker. Besides, her two married siblings live separately and independently in other regions. Rosa can use her salary for her own expenses. Her income is used to buy jewelry, clothes, cell phone, and recently she just bought a motorbike on credit. Moreover, Rosa is also able to save some of her salary. Although Rosa is dependent upon her family for free lodging, she has autonomy to decide her activities outside the house,
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including participating in trade union activities. She often leaves the house for labor trainings or labor meetings. She explains that her father supports her activities as long as she can take care of herself and does not engage in any violent actions. In fact, her father is the one who usually gives her a ride to labor meetings, especially when the meeting takes place at night. She has tried to be more independent, thus, she bought a motorbike to make her movement easier.
Rosa's case supports Parmi's explanation about young women being subjected to fewer familial economic obligations. As mentioned earlier, a few women workers in TIC show that a married status and having children do not fully restrain their involvement in labor activism as shown by Putri's case. Putri has been involved in organization activities since she was in high school. She is also active in a church organization and an ethnic-based organization (Ikatan Muda Mudi Batak/IMB or The Association of Youth Batak). n the factory, she was chosen as a workers' representative that put her in the organizational structure of SPN in TIC. She admits that she cannot fully withdraw from labor union activities even though she has a baby who needs to be taken care of. She tries to balance her time for family, work, and labor activism. After giving birth, however, she placed labor activism after family and work. As Putri says, "Now family is my priority. will only join labor activism as long as it is held during work hours so I can use my spare time for my family. She declines to attend labor trainings or meetings that require her to go out of the city or to stay overnight, which contradicts her goal to be a labor officer in the Branch Council Leadership (Dewan Perwakilan Cabang).
Putri's husband who is a high school teacher does not stop her from participating in labor activism as long as she does not neglect her family duties. According to Putri, her husband cannot stop her because even when they were still dating, Putri already explained to him that she likes to join organization activities. Nevertheless, the case of Putri shows that her identity as a woman labor activist is often incompatible with her identity as a responsible mother.
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Titin also shares some similarities with Putri. But in the case of Titin, she placed labor activism over family. Therefore, the relationship between Titin and her husband was colored by quarrels. Titin shows her ability to decide the identity that she would like to have despite family constraints. Wati shares some similarities with Putri. Wati has also been active in organization activities since she was in high school. On one occasion, she admitted that her experience in a high school organization has provided her some abilities that can be used in labor union. Wati also explains that her husband rarely complains about her participation in labor activism. When labor activism demands a lot of her time, she tries to make her husband understand (kasih pengertian). She says: Setiap pulang dari pertemuan saya cerita sama suami. Kadang saya kenalkan dia sama temen-temen khususnya yang laki-laki biar dia engga mikir macam-macam. (Every time I return from a labor meeting, I share it with my husband. Sometimes, I also introduce him to my friends [in union], especially males so he will not think I am looking for another man.)
Introducing partners to other labor organizers is also a way of addressing a rumor about labor trainings and labor meetings as a place for having an affair among labor activists. Nevertheless, like Titin, the relationship between Wati and her husband is still colored by quarrels. The cases of married women worker activists suggests that support from husbands and family members is crucial in their formation as woman worker activists. Nevertheless, single women workers with fewer kinship obligations are more available for labor activism than the married ones who are burdened by family duties (Andriyani 1996).
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Ethnicity, migration status, and social networks. From the six women worker activists, three are Sundanese. The other three are non-Sundanese: two are Javanese, one is Batak. This may suggest that there are no significant differences between Sundanese and non-Sundanese women workers in TIC in terms of the degree of participation in labor activism. In other words, from the six women cases ethnicity appears not to be too crucial in shaping women workers' activism. However, ethnicity appears to be more important when we analyze it in connection with gender and social networks as shown earlier in the discussion of non-activists. For the purpose of analysis, this next section is divided into the Sundanese women worker activists (local and nonlocal origins/migrant and commuter) and the non- Sundanese (migrants). The Sundanese women worker activists. Three Sundanese women worker activists in TIC have been able to challenge the idea that labor activism is inappropriate for Sundanese women. One significant factor that contributes to this difference is the composition of social networks that relate to migration status and rules of residence. Wati, Wida, and Ati live separately from their parents (neolocal). Although they live in a Sundanese-dominated community, they do not live in the same neighborhood with their kin members, except Wida. In addition, two of them are from nonlocal origins: Ati is a commuter and Wati is a Sundanese migrant. Their exchange networks are more spatially extensive than those who are relatively embedded in local, family-based social relations. Differences in the compositions of social networks in which these women are embedded and the gendered meanings people have ascribed to these differences have played roles in producing different
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effects on women workers' activism (see Silvey 2003). Therefore, family networks appear to have a distinctive influence in labor activism. The family networks can either be a constraint or an opportunity for women workers' activism. Cases below show that strong social networks with family members, neighbors, friends, and work colleagues, bonding social capital, appear to have a positive effect on women worker activists. Ati, a forty-five-year-old Sundanese mother of three, gets assistance in childcare from her husband who works as a newspaper seller. Sometimes, a neighbor also helps to watch the children. For financial support such as her children's tuition fee, she relies mostly on loans from a cooperative in the workplace. Sometimes, she also borrows money from her colleagues to cover emergency expenses such as school books. Meanwhile, Wati and Wida admit that they only borrow money from the cooperative in the workplace. Unlike Wida who has no children yet, Wati gets support from her younger sister, mother, and her mother-in-law for childcare. But most of the time, she leaves her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter with her mother- in-law whose home is an hour away by car. She meets her daughter during weekends. Therefore, Wati is more flexible than other married women workers. For savings, these three women join the arisan in the workplace. In addition, they prefer to run to their friends either in or outside the workplace for coping with their personal affairs. Do these Sundanese women worker activists share similarities or differences with their non-Sundanese women counterparts in terms of ethnicity, gender ideologies, and composition of social networks?
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The non-Sundanese women worker activists. Ujungberung, like other industrial areas, is marked by the influx of migrants, including the non-Sundanese. In the case of TIC, migrants dominate the workforce and many of them are the Javanese. As mentioned in chapter 2, Javanese workers, who are known to be industrious and compliant workers, are treated differently from the non-Javanese, particularly the local Sundanese. The Javanese workers, both male and female, easily get promoted. However, the assumption that the Javanese are compliant workers is challenged by the presence of two Javanese women worker activists in TIC. Both have been elected as workers' representatives. One of them, Rosa, is known as a bright young woman. She does not hesitate to argue with her supervisor if she finds that her supervisor is incorrect in giving work instructions. Thus, many young women workers in her department line have relied on her in addressing work problems. Who is Rosa and why is she different from the majority of Javanese workers in TIC? The profile of Rosa below serves to answer this question. Rosa was born in Purwokerto, Central Java in 1977. She has two siblings, an older brother and a younger sister. Her family migrated to Bandung City in the 1980s in order to have a better life. Rosa's father got a job as a factory worker. Rosa spent her school years in Bandung and lives in a Sundanese-dominated community. Although she stayed in this community for years, she does not have a close relationship with her neighbors. She only knows her closest neighbors and prefers to interact with her colleagues in the factory. Moreover, she veers away from the Sundanese stereotype of giving importance to a carefree and consumptive lifestyle.
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Instead, her parents taught her to live thriftily and to commit herself to study as well as to work. According to her, this is a part of survival in a foreign area since they live far from their extended family. In high school, Rosa was known as a bright student in her class. She was also active in religious-based organizations. In fact, soon after she graduated from high school, she got involved in a radical religious movement. She wore a full veil, from head to toe, and only showed her eyes. However, her involvement only lasted for a few months because she realized that this movement was unsuitable for her. Recently, she found a religious organization that fits in with her belief. Every month, she gives part of her salary to this organization. Rosa has worked in TIC since 1997. It was only in 2004, however, when she started getting involved in labor union activities. Although she remains active in labor activism, she still gives priority to her factory work. She does not want to leave her job too long to join union activities. Aside from the need for income, she also does not want to get criticisms from her supervisor who often looks for her mistakes. During a labor strike, she says, "Aku udah terlalu sering absen, mana aku harus bayar cicilan motor dan kadang atasan suka ngomel. (I take unpaid leave too often yet I have to pay for my motorbike and so sometimes my boss criticizes my absence.) This puts her as one among a few labor activists who is able to balance labor activism and work. Many labor activists have failed to maintain their work and ended up resigning from the factory. Moreover, Rosa has full control over her income and has fewer familial economic obligations which make it easier for her to be active in labor activism. In
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this sense, factory work seems to strengthen female autonomy (see also Wolf 1991) which in turn encourages women workers to be labor activists. Another example is Nia, a twenty-nine-year-old Javanese mother of a seven- year-old son. She migrated to Bandung City in 1994 and lived with her relative for a year. Nia has three siblings. Two of them lived with her parents in Kebumen, Central Java and another one works in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, as the personal driver of a well-known businessman. Her father is a pedicab driver and her mother is a caretaker. She has worked in TIC since 1995. She met her husband, a Sundanese man, and got married in her hometown in 1997. A year later, she gave birth. Nia has full control over her sexuality, like in deciding her life partner and deciding when to be pregnant. She also has control over her income. Her parents have never set her up with someone or have asked her for money. In fact, her parents still support her financially. One thing that her parents ask from her is to send her son to live with them. They question the financial ability of Nia and her husband to raise the child. Especially, her husband, Didi, who only works on a piece-rate basis 2 in a small knitting factory that has no regular production. Sometimes he needs to wait for months until the factory receives a new order. During an interview, it had been two months since the factory gave him a job. Moreover, Didi also often keeps his limited salary for himself, for playing badminton and buying cigarettes. He has to contribute to pay for the badminton court and the shuttlecock. Thus, the household's survival relies solely on Nia's income.
2 Hours of labor depend on whether the set targets are reached.
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Even though she already sent her son to live with her parents, she still needs to get additional income. She tried to sell hot snacks which she prepared before going to work in the factory. She woke up very early to make fresh snacks with her husband's help. During her business she carried a big bag. She recalls, " felt like a college student who always carries a big bag (laugh). But since the profit was very small and did not equal her effortsthe house was always messed up and she felt tired easilyshe stopped the business. Now, she sells instant noodles. She puts the noodles in her unlocked locker in the workers' rest room so those who will buy can get it easily and put the money in it. Nia and Didi rent a room that is only a ten- minute ride from the factory. Nia relies on her parents for childcare and the education fee of her son. Sometimes, she also borrows money from her parents or her younger brother who works in Jakarta. But for house payment, she usually gets a loan from a cooperative in the workplace. One time, she also borrowed money from the TIC manager. She recalls: Saya sampai memohon dan nangis biar dapat pinjaman dari dia. Saya ingin pinjam 1 juta tapi dia hanya kasih 600 ribu. Saya pakai buat bayar sewa. (I even had to beg and cry just to get a loan from him. I wanted to borrow Rp 1 million but he only gave me Rp 600,000. I used the money to pay my rent.)
If she runs out of money for daily expenses she will borrow it from her friends. For savings, she joins arisan that requires her to pay Rp 200,000/month. Nia rarely talks with her husband or parents about her personal problems. She shares it with friends. She explains: Susah ngomong sama suami tentang kerjaan atau masalah lain, akhirnya malah berantem. Saya juga engga pengen kasih tahu orang tua kalo saya
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lagi ada masalah. Saya engga mau bebanin mereka dengan masalah saya. Mendingan ngomong sama temen-temen. Mereka nolong banget deh. (I find it difficult to talk about work or other things to my husband. We often end up quarreling. When am having a problem don't want to tell my parents. don't want to burden them with my problems. So I am better sharing it with my friends. They are very helpful.)
This is also the case for Rosa. She does not want to burden her parents with personal problems. Thus, she shares the problems with her friends in the factory. Unlike Nia, money is not an issue for Rosa since she has fewer expenses. In fact, she is the one who often lends money to her friends. However, she still takes advantage of the benefits of joining the TIC cooperative that pays for her motorbike downpayment. Like Rosa, Putri rarely borrows money from the cooperative. She joins the arisan in the church and kin-based associations. She spends about US$25 per month to pay arisan. As with Ati and Wati, Rosa, Putri, and Nia also show more extensive spatial social networks. It seems that the women workers who have more extensive social networks, not only from family but also from friends, colleagues as well as organizations inside or outside the workplace, are likely to join labor activism, despite their ethnic background.
Synthesis and Discussion The explanations above highlight how sources of identity affect the formation of women workers' activism. Age matters to some women workers but not to others. Parmi, an older woman, for instance, shows the importance of age in her decision not to get involved in labor activism that is usually seen as a venue for young women workers. Meanwhile in the case of Nana, age and marital status are less important than gender roles. Her young and single status does not automatically make her
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liable to militancy. Her parental influence and desire to be a dutiful (berbakti) daughter mitigate her interest in joining labor activism. In other words, being young and single is insufficient to develop class consciousness. For her, her identity as a dutiful and responsible daughter appears to be more important than being a labor activist. Nana's gender ideologies developed in her a stronger commitment to her work role and family role than to labor activism. Nevertheless having problems with a supervisor and a group leader which may jeopardize a woman worker's source of income encourages a woman worker to pay more attention to labor activism. The identity as a labor activist or non-activist, in this sense, is activated in certain situations, while the identity as a responsible daughter matters almost all the time and underlies a woman worker's decision to engage (or not engage) in labor activism. In Rosa's case, her identity as a young single woman worker with fewer kinship obligations developed in her a stronger commitment to labor activism. However, she decided to lessen her participation in labor activism if it takes too much time away from work that, in turn, may get her into trouble at work and decrease her income. It can thus be concluded that a woman worker's identity, as a labor activist is not fixed. t changes depending on the situation. Moreover, one's participation in labor activism also entails the need for survival. Nana and Rosa's cases suggest that age (young) and marital status (single) are not significant unless analyzed in connection with women's gender roles.
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In other cases, a combination of marital status and gender roles is crucial in the formation of married women workers' activism. n the case of Pipin and Diah, these two sources of identity appear to be a constraint for labor activism. They attend to their roles as responsible mothers and dutiful wives. Moreover, their social networks, which rely on local, family-based social networks, constrain instead of open up opportunities for labor activism. Local, family-based social relations where Sundanese women are embedded combined with the gendered meanings that are attached to these relations may dampen their participation in labor activism (Silvey 2003). In other words, kin-based networks appear to place a certain moral restriction to the movement of women workers (Saptari and Elmhirst 2004). Meanwhile, other married women workers with children are able to assert their identity as labor activists. These women worker activists are able to intensify their social networks in order to lessen their family duties, which in turn promote their participation in labor activism. Here, strong social networks allow them to acquire the identity that they would like to have as labor activists. Most of these women are from nonlocal origins (commuters and migrants), either Sundanese or the non- Sundanese, and live far from their extended families. This contributes to the compositions of their exchange networks that are more spatially extensive. In sum, social networks in relation with migration status, ethnicity, and gender, have a distinctive influence on labor activism. This may enable or constrain women workers' involvement in labor activism (Saptari forthcoming; Elmhirst 2004; Silvey 2003). In addition, the rules of residence are also important in mediating between women's control over income and their power in the household. Some
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cases have shown that women who become main income earners and live separately (neolocal) have higher positions in decision making, both in the household and in public activities, than those who live with the husband's family (virilocal). Women's status in the patrilocal and virilocal system is lower than in the matrilocal or neolocal system (Chafetz 1980 cited in Wolf 1991, 129). This is exemplified by the cases of Nia (neolocal) and Diah (virilocal). These patterns thus suggest that women who break free from traditional gender norms are more likely to engage in labor activism. Gender, in this sense, remains the dominant source of identity. Moreover, some cases also show the importance of social personal context in fostering activism. Sources of identity are seen to have an effect on women workers' activism if they are accompanied by context. For instance, marriage and motherhood would normally be a hindrance to activism, yet given a supportive family and spouse, a woman worker can be active (see cases of Titin, Putri, Wati, Nia, and Ati). Financial autonomy, as shown in Wida and Rosa's case, also opens their opportunity to engage in activism than those who are financially dependent on their families or spouses. In addition, women workers, both the activists and the non-activists, are also active in social organizations such as holy Qur'an recital groups, church groups, and economically oriented organizations (e.g., rotating savings associations and cooperatives). The non-activists may not participate actively in the trade union but they engage in other organizations as a way of expressing themselves or fulfilling family needs. Therefore, there is a need to distinguish between women's
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participation in the trade union and other social organizations in understanding women workers' militancy (Berger 1983). Joining economically oriented organizations seem to make women's involvement in labor activism more possible. These organizations can be used to compensate for lack of income due to participation in labor union activities held outside work hours. The next section presents the summary of the findings of the study and assesses the analytical framework.
153 CHAPTER 5 SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This case study of the sources of labor activism focused on women workers in TIC, a Japanese-owned spinning mill, in Ujungberung, Bandung City, an area of low labor unrest. It attempted to examine the structural conditions in both the factory and community that enable and constrain women workers' participation in labor activism; the nature of labor activism in Ujungberung, particularly in TIC; women workers' sources of identity and the conditions under which women workers' identities are mobilized. The data for this study were gathered from the life histories of ten TIC women workers who are members of SPN and one former leader of SPN at the enterprise level. Of the ten women workers, six are labor activists and the remaining four are non-activists. Taking into consideration literature that shows how macro-level factors such as state labor policies and the roles of labor union and NGOs contribute to the growth of women workers' militancy, this study also explored other factors such as gender, age, ethnicity, marital status, migration status, and social networks as key elements in understanding women's activism as workers. On a broader conceptual level, these factors can be seen as sources of identity. According to Peter Burke (1980 cited in Charon 1998), these identities also represent "a source of motivation for labor activism. Thus, an understanding of identity among women workers, which includes their reason for getting involved (or uninvolved) in labor activism, is very
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important in assessing the degree of militancy among women workers. Woodward's (2000) argument that emphasized the combination of structural constraint and individual agency in the formation of identity was applied in examining the extent to which sources of identity shape TC women workers' identities. This chapter summarizes the main findings and issues raised throughout the study, and presents the study's conclusions. Based on these discussions, this study offers a set of guidelines for improving women's status in the factories and increasing the level of women participation in labor activism as well as topic for further researches on women workers' activism.
Issues and Research Findings Structures of gender are among the constraints to women worker's choices. Previous labor studies on women have mentioned how gender and its relation to other factors such as migration status contribute to the complexity of understanding (or lack of it) women's labor activism (see Silvey 2003). Gender roles (as mothers or as daughters) and their gender subordination at homemanifestations of gender inequalityare considered by many as impediments that limit women workers' involvement in labor activism. However, the interaction of gender with other factors such as age, ethnicity, marital and migration status, and compositions of social networks are also very important. These factors have potential implications on women workers' militancy. n sum, gender is a crucial source of identity but its interactions with other sources of identity are also very important (Bradley 1997 cited in Haralambos and Holborn 2004).
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Structural constraints in the workplace and community that are more pronounced in a low militancy area are insufficient, however, to explain variations in the degree of militancy among women workers. Even within structural constraints, some women workers can shape their identities as labor activists through the taking of collective and individual actions. They also reshape, to some extent, social structures that limit them (Woodward 2000).
Subordination of women in the workplace The research site, in the early 1970s when factories started to operate, absorbed local residents and migrants as their employees. The proportion of men and women was also relatively equal. This situation, however, changed as these factories shifted to export production. These factories preferred to hire young and single women, particularly Javanese women migrants, who were seen as more dexterous and obedient than their non-Javanese counterparts. This supported studies on industrialization, global factories, and female factory labor in Asia in the 1980s and 1990s that stressed "the growing demand for young, single migrant women as global capital moves to Asia in search of cheap and docile labor (cited Saptari 1995, 97). Thus, of more than seven hundred workers in TIC in 2006, 80 percent were women and more than 50 percent of them were migrant women. The majority of workers in TIC were senior high school diploma holders. Table 16 summarizes the characteristics of TC's workforce.
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TABLE 16 CHARACTERSTCS OF TC'S WORKFORCE (2006) Characteristics Workforce Sex Female: 80%, Male: 20% Marital status Married: 80%, Single: 20% Migration status Migrant: 60%, Local: 40% Education Senior high school: 60% Elementary school: 20% Junior high school: 15% College/University: 5% Age group 25-48 years old Work period Shortest: 6 years: Longest: more than 30 years Working status Permanent workers Dominant ethnic group Sundanese and Javanese Source: The profile of Tomenbo Corporation (2006).
Women workers in TIC, despite their varying ethnic backgrounds and places of origin, dominated the position of machine tenders and operatives while men were hired as machine technicians and auxiliary workers. In addition, although women workers have been described as 'dexterous' and 'diligent', they rarely get promoted beyond the lowest supervisory level (group leaders or line leaders)a position that differed little from production workers. In other words, gender-segregated job allocation has produced gender hierarchy in authority relations. All women were under the authority of male supervisors and managers. Furthermore, the exclusion of women from the higher skilled and higher hierarchical structure contributed to their low wages. The women workers were also excluded from getting family allowance, from pursuing higher education with the company's support, and so on. n this sense, factory employment perpetuates gender inequalities and women workers are subjected to patriarchal domination as well as capitalist domination (Lee 1993).
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In the case of TIC, gender and ethnicity shaped the ways in which managers perceived and treated workers (Ong 1987 and Wolf 1986). TC's workers came from various ethnic backgrounds such as Sundanese, Javanese, and Batak but the company preferred the Javanese workers and promoted them faster than their non- Javanese counterparts. While Javanese women dominated the group leaders' position and Javanese men could achieve higher positions as supervisors and managers, non-Javanese particularly local-inhabitants (Sundanese), were rarely promoted. The Javanese who held higher positions were less likely to join labor activism than those who did not hold any position in the factory. In addition, work positions are also important in understanding the degree of militancy among factory workers. Lower rank workers are more likely to join activism than those in higher ranks. Under the subordinate position, female workers do not always remain passive and accepting of everything that management dictates. They develop certain ways of showing their discontent and of lessening stressful work. In fact, a few women workers are able to move from covert actions toward overt actions such as bipartite or bilateral negotiations, labor trainings, and strikes. These women workers are able to challenge the idea that the labor union is a male-dominated organization. This will be reviewed in the next section.
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Labor activism
Industrial areas in West Java have often been described as seats of labor unrest. However, this is not the case for the Ujungberung industrial area. Some factors contribute to the relatively stable condition of this area, as explained below. High versus low militancy area. The Ujungberung industrial area has a low level of militancy compared to other industrial areas in West Java such as Tangerang. While labor activism in Tangerang is colored by strikes, Ujungberung has remained calm. For the past five years only a few strikes took place in Ujungberung. Moreover, these strikes only involved hundreds or even fewer workers in a short period and never involved many factories within close vicinity. Factors such as strong state repression, higher real wages, and the lack of NGOs in Bandung City, where Ujungberung is located, appear to contribute to the low level of labor unrest in this area. At the local level, the nature of Sundanese-dominated communities that give high value to stability and unity is also an important factor in suppressing workers' militancy in Ujungberung. In the case of TIC, although the level of labor unrest at the enterprise level is low, workers find it relatively easier to get involved in public demonstrations or rallies to demand an annual wage increase that equals KHL and to demand a fair state labor policy. Under these issues, TIC women workers are mobilized in public spaces. Public demonstrations. At least three factors underlie the willingness of TC's women workers to engage in public demonstrations. First is the ability of the union to provide the needs of the workers during the demonstrations. As Rutten (2000, 217)
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explains, "Activism requires contribution in money, goods, and manpower that have to be accommodated by the activists' households. These costs may inhibit labor activism. Therefore, the more unions can reduce the activists' costs during labor activism, the more workers are likely to engage in it. Second is the lenient attitude of the company toward the participation of workers in public labor protests. Since the company accepts this kind of activism, the workers are more liable to engage in it. In other words, the workers are more likely to engage in labor activism that will not jeopardize their sole source of income. Therefore, labor activism also entails the need for survival. Third is related to the ways in which workers give a particular meaning to a public demonstration. Demonstrations that often take place in public spaces such as the center of provincial government and the capital city of Jakarta are not only a medium to address workers' interests or needs but also a medium for recreation or for leaving routinary jobs for a while. During public demonstrations, workers gather with workers from other factories, chat with their fellow workers about family issues, financial problems, and so on. This shows another dimension of strikes that is rarely seen in the study of labor activism (except Saptari forthcoming). In this sense, participation in strikes and demonstrations cannot be regarded as a direct manifestation of class consciousness. Even within strikes and demonstrations where workers' identities are supposed to be heightened, many women workers identify themselves more with their gender (see Saptari forthcoming). These women prefer to gather outside labor protesters and keep calm.
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Labor activism at the enterprise level. Covert and overt actions comprise the nature of labor activism in TIC. Over the past few years, overt and organized actions in TIC have largely been expressed by negotiation. Although labor organizers are often dissatisfied with the result of negotiations, they discourage strikes. Within the context of global and labor market instability, staging a stoppage strike in the workplace is seen as the last option because it may endanger the workers' source of income. Stoppage strikes often disturb the production process and can be used by the company as a reason to displace workers and to transfer its operation to another area with a much lower level of labor unrest. Thus, labor union organizers like SPN prefer negotiation instead of strikes in pushing for their interests in the workplace. This negotiation strategy of SPN appears to produce a kind of militancy among its members. Another way to show resentment toward unfair treatment in the workplace is through covert actions on the factory floor. Gossip, work slowdowns, avoidance, and other actions are very common practices and represent the act of resistance on the factory floor. Many women workers take part in covert actions because these incur less risk than overt ones. Their subordinate position in the workplace has made it necessary for them to be more creative in covertly addressing their interests or resentments, particularly when the formal channel (labor union) is unable to address their issues. For instance, problems between operators (women workers) and group leaders are considered as personal issues rather than union issues. And personal issues should be resolved individually. At the same time, women's subordinate
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position makes them less likely to directly challenge their immediate supervisors, except Rosa. Most of the women workers prefer to talk behind their group leader's back or to avoid conversation unless the group leader talks to them first. In sum, covert actions dominate the factory floor. Men as well as women engage in covert actions and share positions in the organizational structure of SPN at the enterprise level. However, women workers' specific interests remain unaddressed. Women's participation in the union. Some feminists see unions as patriarchal institutions (Walby 1986 cited in Haralambos and Holborn 2004, 134). This study shows that the union is dominated by men who tend to act in the interests of male workers, even when women are the majority of the union's members. Women are still under-represented in collective negotiations with the management. Male workers have dominated top positions in the labor unions, from the national to the enterprise level. In the case of TIC, more women workers are elected to be labor officers. But they are still not the majority. These women, however, have not used their position effectively to persuade the union to take gender issues and women's interests more seriously. The lack of participation of women in the union may not bring up some vital women's issues such as family allowance and equal wages during negotiations. But the presence of women in the union's top positions may stimulate in the future greater involvement of women in labor union activities. This is exemplified by Titin, a former union leader in TIC, who became a role model for many women workers in their company.
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Some efforts have been undertaken to promote women's participation, but some women workers encounter difficulties in managing their job as union officers outside work hours. Women's union activities are often constrained by family responsibilities. Married women workers' involvement in labor activism may cause family conflict as exemplified by Titin's case. With regard to women workers' activism, particularly married women workers, support from spouse and family is significant in managing women's "triple duty in the factory, the family, and the union. This implies that in order to understand women's activism, explanations must not only look at the actions of organizers or conditions where workers are mobilized, but also the women themselves, the social structures in which they are embedded, and the ways they interpret conditions surrounding them.
Sources of women workers' activism Of more than six hundred women workers in TIC, only six are actively involved in labor activism, both in covert and overt actions. These six women workers, to some extent, have been able to challenge structural conditions that often limit their participation in labor activism. Although they are positioned lower in the hierarchical structure of the company, they are still able to achieve high positions in labor union structures and play important roles on the factory floor. In order to understand their reasons for getting involved (or uninvolved) in labor activism, this research looked into women workers' sources of identity and how these shaped women workers' identities.
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Traditional gender roles: A constraint for women workers' activism. The ten women workers and the former female union leader studied saw gender roles as a dutiful daughter, a responsible mother, and a wife as constraints to their involvement in labor activism. Women's family roles and their gender subordinat ion at home make most married women workers in TC "less liable to organize. They must rush home after work to care for their children and to do other household chores. The married women workers do household chores more than the single women. One case, however, showed that being single and subject to fewer household chores does not release her from kinship obligations to give financial support to her siblings. Her parents' strong influence and her desire to be a dutiful daughter appeared to limit her involvement in labor union activities that may endanger her source of income in the factory. Meanwhile, another young and single woman worker with fewer familial economic obligations showed a stronger commitment to labor activism. This woman is very active in labor union activities held inside or outside the workplace. Among the ten women workers, only one considers age as an important factor in her decision not to engage in labor activism. For her, only younger people with better education are appropriate for labor activism. Besides, she believes younger people have less responsibility to their family. Nevertheless, two older women workers have challenged the idea that labor activism belongs to the younger generation. At ages forty to fifty years old, these women are still active in the labor organizing process. n fact, one of them achieved the top position at the union's
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regional level. Older women might normally decline to join strikes, but given a network that is encouraging and children who are older, age will not matter. These findings suggest that gender roles are more crucial in understanding the degree of militancy among women workers than age and marital status. Even women worker activists, especially married ones, consider gender roles as an obstacle for them in asserting their identities as women worker activists. Rowbotham (1972 cited in Berger 1983, 49) supports these findings by saying, "the particular relationship of the woman to reproduction and consumption within the family mediated her relationship to commodity production, thereby making women less liable to organize. Even as full-time wage earners, they continue to assume responsibility for household tasks. Some cases, however, show that the context or situation of a person's gender role is also important. For example, although marriage would tend to limit activism in women, given a supportive family and husband, women workers can take part in labor activism. Enabling and constraining effects of social networks. Among six women worker activists who are burdened by family duties, three of them are able to use their social networks to ease their domestic duties as well as social and economic problems. Meanwhile, two other women workers experienced social networks as a constraint rather than an opportunity for labor activism. These two women reside within the vicinity of their kin members in a Sundanese-dominated community. They are embedded in local, family-based social relations and rely heavily on their family networks. The combination of gender ideologies of Sundanese people who
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disapprove women workers' participation in labor activism and the composition of their social networks restrain these two Sundanese women from taking part in labor activism. This challenges ris Berger's (1983) argument that sees the importance of extended family networks in promoting women's political activism. Berger fails to take into account differences in ethnicity and gender ideologies within these networks. Meanwhile, of six women activists, only one is a local inhabitant, the other five are from nonlocal origins. Four are migrants (one is Sundanese, two are Javanese, and one is Batak). The remaining one is a commuter who is Sundanese. These six women workers do not give importance to their ethnicity in relation to labor activism. The women have spatially extensive social networks, except for one local inhabitant (Wida). They do not only rely on family, but also on friends, neighbors, and even organizations inside or outside the workplace in order to overcome or lessen workplace problems. In the case of Wida, a better economic condition and the absence of children make her more independent and more liable to participate in labor activism than other locals. These findings show that social networks enable or constrain labor activism. Migration status, ethnicity, and gender ideology appear to shape the compositions of social networks. Local Sundanese who rely on local, family-based social networks are less likely to join labor activism than migrant Sundanese and non-Sundanese who have spatially extensive social networks. Moreover, gender ideologies attached
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to local, family-based social relations embedded in Sundanese culture appear to contribute to the low participation of local Sundanese women in labor activism. n addition, the rules of residence also play an important role in women's control over income and their power in the households to determine their engagement in labor activism. Some cases show that women who are main income earners and live separately from relatives (neolocal) have a relatively higher position in the household decision making and public activities than those who live with their husband's family (virilocal). Women's status in a patrilocal and virilocal system is lower than in a matrilocal or neolocal system (Chafetz 1980 cited in Wolf 1991, 129).
Conclusions The results of the study suggest the following conclusions regarding forms of labor activism, women's participation in labor activism and in other social organizations, and the dominant sources of identity of women workers.
Forms of labor activism Broadening the definition of labor activism beyond conflict-oriented strategies enables one to capture the more collaborative strategies of dialogue and covert forms of action that actually dominate the factory floor. Moreover, the study revealed that the nature of labor activism is dynamic and changeable depending on the context. Within the context of global and labor market instability, which is seen through factory closing and workforce downsizings, collaborative and covert forms of action appear to be rational strategies for workers in expressing disappointment with
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company policies without putting their jobs at risk. The covert actions are common among women workers in TIC. This suggests that women workers get involved in labor activism as long as it does not jeopardize their sole source of income. It can thus be concluded that labor activism comes after the need for survival.
Women workers' activism If the study follows the standard definition of militancy which implies aggressive actions and conflict-oriented strategies, it can be concluded that women workers in TIC, in general, have a low level of militancy. But since the study has applied a broader definition of labor activism, findings have revealed that women workers in TIC have shown some degree of militancy. Some women workers, however, have shown a higher degree of militancy that is indicated by their willingness to join public demonstrations. This suggests that women workers tend to be more active in short-term forms of protest than in time-consuming activities such as day-to-day trade union activities (Berger 1983). Moreover, one's identity as a labor protester or activist is formed, maintained, and changed through social interaction (Charon 1998). Labor union officers tend to maintain their identities as labor activists than regular union members. However, within certain circumstances, their identities as labor activists can alter. Meanwhile, those who consider themselves as non-activists or regular members will be more active in labor activism while having problems with the management. In this sense, identities are not fixed. They are responsive to the social context (Burke 1980 cited in Hogg, Terry, and White 1995).
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Aside from that, women workers also participate in religious groups such as holy Qur'an recital groups, church groups, and economically oriented organizations (e.g., rotating savings associations and cooperatives). These activities dominate the free time of women industrial workers. The involvement in many organizations may promote or constrain activism. A study on women's participation in a Tennessee union (cited in Rutten 2000, 221) argues that, "household, corporation, and union (may) compete with one another for the time and allegiances of individuals and in so doing, constrain individual decisions to engage in activism. n view of the limited attention that most unions have devoted to specifically female issues, a clear distinction must be made when discussing women in trade union participation and other expressions of class consciousness (see Berger 1983).
The dominant sources of identity Variations in the degree of militancy among women workers in a low industrial area highlight the point that women's political demands are not exclusively structurally determined. Differences in the ways women give importance to their gender roles and the compositions of their social networks have played key roles in producing different opportunity spaces for, and constraints on, women's activism as workers. Therefore, it has been necessary to look beyond the labor market's gender division of labor and state labor policy in order to understand women workers' involvement in labor activism (see also Silvey 2003). Given structural constraints in the workplace, community, and family, a few women workers are able to assert their identities as women worker activists.
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Contexts such as financial autonomy, family and spouse support, and the erosion of parental authority create a space renegotiating women's status at home and in the workplace as daughter, wife, mother, and worker that, in turn, enable them to get involved actively in labor activism. Participation in labor activism makes way for more equal gender relations in the union as well as in the workplace. Within family structures, these women are also able to maneuver the structures by sharing their family duties with their spouses or family members. Gender roles in marriage context and social networks are very crucial in determining women workers' activism. Ethnicity, age, and migration status are less so. In other words, this study shows that from several sources of identity as shown in the analytical framework, gender remains as the dominant source of identity. It supports the feminist idea that sees gender as the principal source of identity and challenges the "postfeminist conception that sees the absence of common causes for which women need to unite. The "postfeminist conception also asserts that gender has lost its importance as a source of identity (Walter 1998 cited in Haralambos and Holborn 2004, 139). Natasha Walter, proponent of the new feminism, believes that women share common problems. She explains that inequality at work and responsibility for childcare and domestic work are areas in which women are most disadvantaged. However, the connection of gender with other sources of identity is also important in showing that "not all women experience disadvantages to the same extent or in the same ways (Bradley 1997 cited in Haralambos and Holborn 2004, 829). For instance, the interplay between gender
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roles and social networks affect women workers differently. Women worker activists are able to use strong extensive social networks to cope with heavy family responsibilities that relate to their gender roles. Meanwhile, for the non-activists, the combination of gender roles, strong family social networks (local and family-based networks), and gender ideologies that are attached to these networks have pushed them away from labor activism. These compositions of social networks are somehow shaped by the migration status of the workers. But being migrants or non-migrants is not important in their decision to be labor activists. Sources of identity, while important, must complement the personal and social contexts of a person in order to foster labor activism. Social and personal contexts such as support from family, spouses, financial autonomy, and anything else that enable women to free themselves from gender restrictions, are also very important. The source of identity itself will not explain a whole lot of variance in activism. These supportive contexts release women from traditional gender obligations which in turn allow women to work for goals larger than the family and community interests. The findings are used to assess the framework of this study as shown in figure 9.
Recommendations
The recommendations are divided into two parts. The first part focuses on practical recommendations for labor unions whose members are dominated by women workers. The second part focuses on academic recommendations for further studies.
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Practical recommendations This study has shown that women are under-represented in the union's body from national to enterprise level. This may contribute to the inability of labor unions to address women's specific interests. n fact, active participation of women in important positions in the labor union has several advantages: (1) this may affect policies concerning childcare, pay equity, and others; and (2) this may stimulate greater involvement by rank-and-file women (Melcher et al. 1992). Thus, labor unions need to develop strategies that may spur women to participate actively in labor activism. The low participation levels among women workers in labor activism may have something to do with issues that do not fully address their needs. The study's findings have shown that women workers' interests develop around getting family allowance, health clinic services, drinking water, and food allowance. Table 17 presents a guideline for improving women's condition at workplace based on issues raised during the fieldwork. The table also suggests possible actions in addressing the issues and responsible actors that will carry the issues. Moreover, labor organizers must not only pay attention to structural disadvantages such as job segregation, women's greater responsibilities for household and family, and times and locations of union meetings that may constrain women's involvement, but also attitudinal biases of both union leaders and members (see Wertheimer and Nelson 1975 cited in Melcher et al. 1992). These biases can be
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reduced through informal gatherings that include male and female union officers and union members.
FIGURE 9 THE RELATIONSHIP OF STRUCTURE, AGENCY, AND SOCIAL AND PERSONAL CONTEXT
Findings also showed that women workers tend to be more active in labor union activities if they see that more advantages can be gained from it. This supports the rational choice theory. However, extra advantages (networks and knowledge) are only experienced by those who frequently attend labor trainings or meetings. But Individual agency (autonomy, decision making, and so on) Structures of gender in factory (lower wages, job segregation, & other unequal treatments), family (kinship obligations, heavy family responsibilities, sexual subordination at home), and community (passive attitude), including labor union (under-representation of women) The formation of women workers' identities (activist or non-activist) The dominant sources of identity: - gender roles (dutiful, responsible, obedient), - social networks (spatially extensive and local, family- based networks) The degree of involvement in labor activism (highly active in overt and covert actions or less active labor protesters)
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efforts must be made to get women workers to attend these meetings since these are rarely attended by the majority of women workers. This suggests that labor organizers should be more active in transferring their knowledge to union members, not only through formal channels such as labor trainings or union meetings, but also during break time and other informal occasions inside or outside the workplace.
TABLE 17 GUIDELINES FOR IMPROVING WOMEN WORKERS' CONDTON Issues Possible actions Actors
1. Family allowance For widow and married women workers. 1
x Labor unions can start to make a list of widow and married women workers in the factory. x Labor unions can also ask the widows to get a reference from their neighborhood chiefs about their status as widow. x The list and reference can be a basis during collective labor agreement negotiations. x Some widow and some married women workers aside from workers' representatives can start to be involved during the negotiations. Labor union officers Workers' representatives Married women workers and widow 2. Health clinic service and facility x Labor union officers and workers' representative can make a self- administered questionnaire regarding health clinic service and facility (ask the workers to add other problems that they have ever encountered). x Workers' representatives distribute the questionnaires to workers in their production line and collect them. x Union officers compile it and the Labor union officers Workers' representatives Workers
1 Women who do not have husbands working in the same factory.
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Table 17Continued Issues Possible actions Actors
3. Food composition and food allowance. data compilation can be used to strengthen their arguments during bipartite negotiations. x Ask the workers who are disappointed with food composition that served in the canteen to sign a petition that ask the company to improve it. x Labor unions can also suggest an alternative menu and its cost.
Labor union officers Workers' representatives Workers
4. Drinking water x Workers' representatives collect complaints from workers regarding dirty drinking water. x Labor union officers with the help of workers' representatives make a short report on this and bring supervisors and management to see the condition of drinking water. Labor union officers Workers' representatives Workers 5. Rest room facility x Make a list about poor conditions of rest room facilities and take some pictures. x Give the list and pictures to the management. Labor union officers Workers representatives
Issues for further studies Studies on labor process or factory work need to examine not only the often- emphasized differences between men and women but also differences between men and women by ethnicity, work status (permanent workers and contractual workers), work position (operators and group leaders or other higher positions), and others. This study is only able to reveal the differences among women by ethnicity and little information is given on the differences by work position. In relation to the issue of identity, there is a need to further examine the circumstances where identities are activated. This may enhance our understanding
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of the nature of identity as either fluid or fixed, or both. Moreover, although ethnicity does not appear crucial in the formation of women worker activists in this study, it still needs to be examined further since industrial areas are colored by various ethnic backgrounds. In order to unearth more issues of ethnicity, further studies need to see the expression of ethnicity in the place of destination as well as the place of origin (see Elmhirst 2004) and highlight differences in ethnic backgrounds and how these are connected to women workers' activism. Another issue which needs to be addressed in further researches is women's involvement in multiple networks or social organizations that may promot e or constrain labor activism. This study has revealed that women are more active in economic-oriented organizations that boost their income such as rotating savings associations and cooperatives. However, since the nature of these organizations does not demand much time from women workers, women's involvement in these organizations may not constrain labor activism. In fact, these can be a part of women's coping strategies during industrial fluctuation. Besides these three issues, another recommendation is to make a comparative study between a high-militancy area and a low-militancy area. Based on available literature, only one study has made such a comparison (see Silvey 2003). Another point for further study is a comparison between male and female militancy. In addition, the ten cases in this study are insufficient to develop strong generalizations on the effect of sources of identity on labor activism, so further
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studies need sufficient samples to allow researchers to make stronger generalizations.
177 APPENDIX A INTERVIEW GUIDE 1
Structural Conditions: The Nature of Community and Industry in Ujungberung (Village headman, the elders of community, the neighborhood chiefs, the members of the community)
Socioeconomic condition
1. What was the main livelihood of Ujungberung residents before the factories were established?
2. What is the main livelihood of Ujungberung residents now?
3. What are the income generating activities in Ujungberung?
4. What are the job preferences of the younger generation?
5. What is the main source of livelihood of the migrants in Ujungberung?
6. What are the public services available in the community? Who provides these services?
7. Do the migrants have equal access to these public services?
8. How do you describe the economic condition of your neighborhood?
9. What are the important social organizations in the community?
10. What are the roles of these social organizations? Who are the participants?
11. Do women get equal chances to participate in these organizations?
Cultural identification
1. How many ethnic groups are there in the community? 2. What is the dominant ethnic group?
1 The questions more or less depend on the situation of interview and the willingness of informants to give answers to questions.
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3. Why are there various ethnic groups in the community?
4. How do the natives perceive the non-Sundanese migrants?
5. How do the Sundanese perceive the migrants?
6. How do the local authorities treat the migrants?
7. Have you ever heard or experienced conflict with regards to the presence of migrants in the community?
8. If yes, how do the members of community (native and migrant) resolve the conflict?
The industrial-historical context
1. When were the factories established? What factories? Who were the first factory owners?
2. What was the previous proportion between women and men workers? How about the current proportion?
3. What was the previous proportion between local and migrant workers? How about the current proportion?
4. What are the impacts of industrialization on land use?
5. How have the factories been significant to the growth of Ujungberung?
6. What have been the significant events in the history of industrialization in Ujungberung?
7. What infrastructures and facilities does the factory provide? Who can use these?
8. What happened to the Ujungberung residents, especially factory workers (migrant and natives) during the economic crisis in 1997-1998?
9. What do you think about Ujungberung conditions now compared to five or ten years ago?
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Structural context: the Nature of Labor Activism in the Factory (Labor organizers, the trade union's members)
1. How many times over the past year has the union called for a strike or lockout? When?
2. Under what circumstances/reasons were the strikes/lockouts held?
3. Who were involved in the strikes/lockouts?
4. What were the results? What were the lessons learned?
5. What were the responses of the management to those who were involved?
Trade union profile
1. How many trade unions are there in the factory?
2. What are the differences between one trade union from another?
3. What is the present organizational structure of the union that you are engaging in?
4. Who are the present officers? How were they selected? What are the roles and responsibilities of each? 5. How many members are there at present? 6. Has the number/percentage increased? Since when? 7. What is the proportion of women and men members? 8. What is the proportion of local and migrant members? 9. How does a male or a female qualify for membership? In particular, how does a female migrant qualify for membership?
I. Women workers and the trade union (women factory workers)
1. What trade union are you currently engaged in? 2. Why do you join the union?
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3. In your opinion, how will you benefit from the union? 4. What are the benefits that you have obtained from the union so far?
5. What is your position in the union?
6. What difference can you make within the union? 7. Do you participate actively in the trade union? Why or why not? 8. What are the activities usually held by the trade union? 9. What do you think of these activities? 10. What is the most important activity for you? Why? 11. Does the trade union help workers overcome the problems that are not related to workplace issues? How?
II. Female workers' perspectives on strikes, lockouts, and labor training
1. How do you perceive strikes/lockouts? How about labor trainings?
2. Have you ever joined any strikes/lockouts/labor trainings?
3. If yes, why? How many times and when? Under what reasons were the strikes/labor trainings held? Who were involved?
4. What were the results? What were the lessons learned?
5. When was the last time you participated? A year? A month? A week ago?
6. For those who have joined strikes: What did you feel the first time you joined a strike?
7. Does the union require the members to join strikes?
8. Is there a penalty for not joining strikes?
9. Under what conditions do you join/not join the strikes/lockouts/labor trainings?
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10. In your opinion, what are advantages/disadvantages of joining strikes/lockouts and labor trainings?
11. What does your family/spouse think about your involvement in the strikes?
12. Did they show resistance or support with regard to your involvement?
13. If yes, what kind of resistance/support? Why?
III. The members of the community's views toward labor activism (Village headman, the elders of community, the neighborhood chiefs, the members of the community)
1. In general, how do you perceive the strikes/lockouts that are held by the union?
2. Do you favor or disfavor strikes? Why?
3. Do you favor or disfavor women who engage in the strikes/lockouts? Why?
4. What are the effects of the strikes to the community's life?
5. What do the local authorities/members of community do with regard to the strikes/lockouts?
6. Has the community ever had any disputes or conflicts with the trade union?
7. If yes, what kind of disputes and what are the reasons that underlie the disputes?
8. How do the local governments, managements, members of community, and trade unions resolve the disputes?
IV. Female Factory Workers in Ujungberung
For female factory workers (locals, migrants, and commuters):
Personal and demographic information
1. Name:
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2. Age:
3. Address:
4. Marital status:
5. Educational attainment:
6. Recent occupation (work trajectory):
7. Job description:
8. Working status:
9. Family size:
10. Origin:
11. Ethnic group:
12. Sources of household income:
13. Monthly expenses:
14. Property ownership (house, land, appliances, livestock, and others):
For Female migrant factory workers:
Decision to migrate
1. Why did you decide to migrate to Bandung? To get a better job? To reduce your family burden? To help your family?
2. How did you come to Bandung? Was there anyone who helped when you first arrived? Who were they?
3. Who told you about the job opportunity in Ujungberung, Bandung?
4. Who helped you get a job in Ujungberung?
5. What does your family (specifically, your parents) think about your decision to migrate?
183
For female factory workers (locals, migrants, and commuters):
Social networks
1. Who do you live with?
2. How many close friends do you have in the area (factory and community)?
3. Who are they? Are they from the same ethnic group as you, from a different ethnic group, or a combination of both?
4. How often do you go out with your friends? Where do you usually go?
5. How often do you visit your friends? For what reasons?
6. When you get sick who usually helps you? Family? Friends? Neighbors? Or someone else? Are they from the same ethnic group as you, from a different ethnic group, or a combination of both?
7. When you need money for daily needs who usually helps you? Family? Friends? Neighbors? Or someone else? Are they from the same ethnic group as you, from a different ethnic group, or a combination of both?
8. When you need a big amount of money, where would you usually ask for help? Family? Friends? Neighbors? Or someone else? Are they from the same ethnic group as you, from a different ethnic group, or a combination of both?
9. Who would you ask for help, if you are depressed? Family? Friends? Neighbors? Or someone else? Were they from the same ethnic as you, from a different ethnic group or a combination of both?
10. Do you go out socially with native neighbors? Fellow workers?
11. How close is your relationship with your native neighbors? Fellow migrants? To whom are you closest to? Why?
12. How often do you visit or chat with your native neighbors? Fellow migrants? Which one do you visit or chat with more often? Why?
13. Have you ever asked for help from your native neighbors? What kind of help? Do they help you?
14. How often do you visit your family?
15. How often do you write letters or call your family or friends?
184
16. Have you ever encountered any problems in your workplace? What kind of problem? Who do you ask for help?
17. If you encounter problems with the management, who would you ask for help?
18. If you encounter problems with fellow workers, who would you ask for help?
19. Have you ever encountered problems in the community, such as garbage collection, quarrels with neighbors, etc? If so,who do you ask for help?
20. Do you get any financial/social support from members of your family?
21. Do you give financial support to your family? (or send remittance for the migrant workers)?
22. How important are these social networks to you?
23. Do you actively participate in the hometown association and in the associations in the community and the workplace?
24. In your opinion, how will you benefit from these associations?
25. What is your position in these associations?
Ethnicity
1. How would you describe the relationship between the Sundanese and non- Sundanese?
2. How do you perceive the Sundanese?
3. How do you represent yourself among the Sundanese? 4. Have you ever experienced any problem in being non-Sundanese? 5. If yes, how do you overcome these problems? 6. How did you adjust to the local habits? 7. Have you ever experienced difficulties in adjusting to the local habits?
185
8. If yes, how do you cope with these difficulties?
Domestic activities
1. Besides factory wage work, are there other income-generating activities women are engaged in? What are they?
2. When are they done? How much do they earn from these activities?
3. What domestic chores do you usually do? When are these done during the day? How much time is allocated for these chores?
Gender Division of labor in the household
For married women workers: 1. How are household chores divided among the members? Who does what? What are the tasks assigned to female members? To male members? Why is the arrangement like this?
2. How many hours do women allocate for domestic work? The men? Why?
3. How do you manage your family if you have to work overtime?
4. Who will take care of your children while you are working?
5. Have you ever gotten any complaints from your spouse or children in relation to your job?
For single women workers:
1. Where do you live? Do you live in dormitories, rent a room, or live somewhere else?
2. Do you live alone or with friends?
3. If living with friends: are they from the same ethnic group as you, from a different ethnic group, or a combination of both? How are household chores divided among the members? What do you usually do? Do you share the rent payment, food, and others? How much do you contribute per month?
186
V. Women in the factory (management, labor organizer, and women workers) Demographic characteristics
1. How many are married? Single? 2. What are the dominant age groups of women migrants? 3. What are their educational attainments? 4. What are their religious affiliations? How are they distributed by religion?
5. What are their geographic and cultural origins? 6. How many are permanent workers? Temporary? Casual?
Recruitment
1. How does recruitment proceed in the factory?
2. What is the educational level or skills required of the women?
3. Where does management usually put women workers? Why?
4. What are the preferences of the management? Women or men? Local or migrant? Young or Old? Single or Married? Why is this so?
5. What benefits do women workers enjoy? Do they vary by position and gender? Why?
187
Division of labor in the factory
1. How is work divided between men and women?
2. What production processes do women workers dominate?
Wage scheme
1. How much are the women paid? The men?
2. Has there ever been a wage difference between women and men workers? If so, how much? What actions have been taken to resolve it? What were the results?
3. How often does a wage increase occur? Why is this so?
Work hours
1. How many hours do you work per day?
2. Are there break periods? How often? How long?
3. How many shifts are there in your workplace? Is the shift system working for both men and women?
Working conditions
1. Are the workplaces clean and sanitary? Is there a regular janitorial service?
2. Are the tools and equipments safe for usage? Are the workplaces fitted to safety and emergency facilities?
3. What are the occupational hazards for women? For men? What does management do to prevent them?
4. What are the problems concerning the working conditions?
5. Have there been incidences of harassment and physical and verbal abuse? How often and widespread are these? What were the actions taken to prevent them?
188 APPENDIX B
SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF TEN WOMEN
Wati was born in Bandung City but she spent her childhood in Cicalengka, another region in West Java, with her grandmother. She moved back to Bandung in 1984 to study. Today, she is a twenty-eight-year-old Sundanese mother of a one-and-a half- year-old daughter. She was married in 2002 to a Sundanese man who works in a printing company in Bandung City. Wati has been active in organization activities since she was in high school. She was elected as a vice-president of SPN in TIC for 2003-2006. But then, she decided to resign from the union's organizational structure and moved up to DPC Bandung City of SPN. Now, she is the only female officer in DPC of SPN in Bandung City.
Rosa is a Javanese migrant born in Purwokerto, Central Java in 1977. Her family migrated to Bandung City in the 1980s. She has an older brother and a younger sister, both of whom are already married and are staying in different regions in West Java. Rosa is still single and staying with her parents in Ujungberung area. When she was in senior high school, she was active in religious organizations in the school as well as in the community. Before she got a job in TIC, she taught children in her community how to read holy Qur'an. But now, she focuses her activities in the workplace to represent workers in her department line (workers' representative) in labor meetings or negotiations with management. After the fieldwork was completed,
189 she shared that she represented TIC workers in a competition for the best employee in the city level. She was chosen as the sixth winner from hundreds of candidates.
Nia is a twenty-nine-year-old Javanese from Kebumen, Central Java. She has three siblings: two of them live with her parents in Kebumen and another one works in Jakarta, as the personal driver of a well-known businessman. She migrated to Bandung City in 1994 and lived with her relative for a year until she got a steady job. She got married to a Sundanese man in 1997. A year later, she gave birth to a son. She sent her son to be taken care of by her parents when he was four years old. Nia is very friendly. She has many friends inside and outside the workplace. Her ability to make friends, paved the way for her to be elected as one of the workers' representatives in TIC. As of her latest update, Nia and Rosa hold both positions as vice presidents of SPN in TIC.
Putri is a Batak migrant. She was born in 1979 in North Sumatera. Her family migrated to Depok, West Java in 1984. However, they only stayed in Depok for three years. They moved to Bandung City in order to have a better life. In 2005, Putri married a Batak man and gave birth a year later to a daughter. Her husband is a senior high school teacher. Both are active in the association of Batak youth and church organizations. In 2001, she represented workers in her production line in labor collective negotiations and labor meetings. A few years later, she was elected as the fourth vice president of SPN at the enterprise level. After giving birth,
190 however, she preferred to focus on child care and only joins union activities that will not take up her family time.
Ati is a commuter from Cibaduyut, Bandung Region which is one-and-a-half-hour ride from the Ujungberung. She is a Sundanese mother of three. Her husband who works as newspaper seller which madeher as the primary income earner in the family. She has been working in TIC for more than twenty-four years now. Being a forty-five-year-old mother and main income earner do not restrain her from being active in union activities. She is active in organizing workers in TIC. She is responsible for the needs of workers during labor union activities. Therefore, she has to join activities such as strikes and demonstrations wherever they take place. Supports from her husband allow her to join union activities that often take up her family time.
Wida is twenty-six years old. She is the only local Sundanese woman who engages actively in labor union activities. Although she lives near her extended families, support from husband, who is working as a senior high school teacher, and the absence of children allow her to be among the few women activists in TIC. She has been working in TIC for seven years and has been placed as an operator. She was elected as the first vice president who is responsible for organization issues. According to Wida, her family can still tolerate her participation in labor activism as long as it does not involve any violent action. This is parallel with SPN's strategies that discourage any aggressive action in addressing its demands.
191 Pipin is a thirty-year-old Sundanese mother of three. She was born and raised in a Sundanese community in Cileunyi dominated by her kin members. She began working in TIC when she was twenty years old and single. She was relatively active in labor activism until she got married and had children. Although she withdrew from labor union activities, she is still active in economic-oriented organizations such as arisan (rotating savings association) and aerobic. Her husband allows her to engage in these activities that are less time-consuming than day-to-day union activities. Now, her life revolves around her family, work, and community activities.
Diah is a twenty-seven-year-old local Sundanese mother of a newly born daughter. She is one of the locally recruited workers in TIC. She has been working in TIC for seven years and is placed in maintenance. She is a senior high school graduate like the majority of TIC workers. As with many local Sundanese, she lives with her extended family. She has become a primary income earner in her household because her husband is irregularly employed. Being a primary income earner and being responsible for domestic chores limited her participation labor union activities. However, she is active in holy Qur'an recital groups. Every weekend she spends some of her time with the group.
Nana is one of the operators in TIC. She is a twenty-seven-year-old migrant from North Sumatera and still single. She had been working in TIC for six and a half years and resigned at the end of 2006 for health and family reasons. Actually, her income as a factory worker was important for supporting four of her siblings but she could
192 not adjust with the work shift system that required her to work at the night shift. After working at the night shift, she kept feeling unwell. Thus, she decided to resign. Nana is an active member of a church organization and youth organization. Being active in these organizations and running her small business make her less able to organize labor union activities at the enterprise level. However, when she was having a problem with her group leader who often treated her unfairly, she began to learn about labor issues with labor union officers until she resigned.
Parmi is a forty-six-year-old Javanese migrant from Purworejo, Central Java. A few years after she graduated from elementary school, she migrated with her relatives to Jakarta to find a job. She worked for a while in Jakarta and moved to Bandung City in the 1970s where she stayed with her aunt. She got a job in Tomenbo in 1978. Thus, she has been working in TIC for almost thirty years. She is married to a Javanese man and has two children. Both of her children were sent to Purworejo to be taken care of by her parents when they were still infants. After finishing their senior high school in Purworejo, they moved and lived with Parmi in Bandung City.
193 APPENDIX C
PHOTOS OF THE STUDY
Minimum wage strike
194
Male union officers on strike A woman worker with her son during the minimum wage strike
195
A time for sharing stories and fruit peanut-sauced salad during the strike
196
Women in packing division Men at work
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