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Julianto used to make Nike sneakers in the giant PT Nikomas Gemilang factory in Indonesia.
Photo: Ashley Gilbertson
September 2000
Julianto used to make Nike sneakers in the giant PT Nikomas Gemilang factory in Indonesia. That was until April 2000, when factory managers forced him to resign because he had helped to organise a demonstration for better pay and conditions at the factory.
In September 2000 NikeWatch invited Julianto to visit Australia to tell people about conditions in Nike contract factories. This is the speech he gave. Note that the wage figures cited in the speech are slightly out of date. In November the minimum wage in West Java was raised to Rp. 344,257 and the monthly wage in the PT Nikomas Gemilang factory was raised to Rp. 355,000 (c. $US38) per month. This is still below what is needed to meet the basic needs of one worker.
Like many Indonesians, Julianto only has one name. His speech was translated by John Soemarjono and Sarah Gardner.
Julianto's speech
My name is Julianto. I come from Purwerejo in Central Java. I am 23 years old. I am single. I finished high school in 1997. From October 1997 until April 2000 I worked at the PT Nikomas Gemilang factory making Nike shoes. I worked in the hot press section making outsoles. There are 23,000 workers in that factory.
Wages in the factory are Rp. 307,000 per month which I am told is $2 Australian per day. This is not enough to live. To meet the basic needs of one person you need Rp 400,000 per month (which is about $3 a day) and that is only for a single person. For the basic needs of a married couple with a small child you need Rp. 650,000 per month (Between $4 and $5 a day).
Just to survive you have to work a lot of overtime. In my section we usually worked 53 hours per week and many workers did other jobs after hours. In the sewing and assembling section people work between 60 and 70 hours per week. Nike says accommodation is provided for workers. What they don't say is that workers are crammed 12 to a small room and sleep on wooden floors without a pillow or even a mat to sleep on.
Workers are under constant pressure to reach quotas – which are much too high. If they don't reach the quota they have to stay behind until they finish and they receive no extra pay. Workers are often punished for failing to reach quotas by being made to clean the factory and the toilets or are humiliated by having to stand in front of other workers while they work.
Sometime supervisors swear at workers and call them "dog", "bitch", "pig" or "stupid".
Accidents are very common. Every week at least one worker loses a part of his or her finger in the cutting machines or the hot press.
In September 1998 we started an organisation for Nike workers to discuss our problems at work.
In 1999 some of us went to a course about workers' rights run by an Indonesian NGO. After this we got more organised and held a demonstration in our factory in December asking for better pay and conditions.
After the demonstration ended most of the workers who organised it were called by the company and were threatened that if they continued to organise workers they would have to resign or else they would be attacked by hired thugs.
I was called away from my work and taken into an office and there were two managers and a soldier from the Indonesian army there. They were very angry. They shouted at me and slammed the table. They told me that we had to disband the workers committee. I told them that we did not want to. And then they said if you organise another demonstration we will take you to the police or you will be visited by hired thugs. The same thing happened to my friends.
The pressure was so intense that we couldn't fight it any longer and by April all of us had resigned.
I now work in a friend's food stall in exchange for food.
Nike claims they have good conditions but this is a lie. Nike says wages are just – but actually they are too low to live on. Nike says they have safe conditions, but every week at least one worker loses part of a finger in dangerous machines. Nike says they recognise the right of workers to meet and form unions – but what actually happens is that if they organise meetings workers are threatened and intimidated.
I support the call for independent monitoring of Nike factories so that human rights will be respected.
When I return to Indonesia I will continue to fight for the rights of Nike workers and other workers.