ILO facilitates just transition dialogues for energy and textile and garment industries in Indonesia

The ILO Office for Indonesia supports dialogues among relevant stakeholders in Indonesia to create just transition for two sectors: energy and textile & garment.

News | Jakarta, Indonesia | 28 October 2022
The ILO Office for Indonesia supported the two-day workshop, “Achieving a Just Transition through Stronger Collaboration in Indonesia: A Social Dialogue on Just Transition for Energy and Textile & Garment Sector”, from 24-25 October in Jakarta. The workshop was conducted as part of the capacity building programme of two ILO regional projects: Decent Work in the Garment Supply Chain in Asia (DWGSCA), funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and the Partnership for Action on Green Economy (PAGE) Indonesia.

Indonesian coal mining. (c) Reuters
Aimed to facilitate a social dialogue process among relevant parties, the workshop discussed the just transition policies to support coal phase out in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, and the overview of the global changes and trends on the sustainability practices in the garment and textile sector and implications for a just transition. Indonesia is known for its highest levels of coal consumption in Southeast Asia and one of the largest textile producers in the world.

This is not an easy task. We need to look at industrial planning and dialogues that lead to a better solution that ensures the integration of gender, social protection, green recovery, skills development and the community dimension."

Michiko Miyamoto, ILO Country Director for Indonesia
Fifty representatives of relevant governmental departments and employers’ and workers’ organizations actively participated at the two-day workshop, sharing their knowledge and experiences related to these two issues and identifying ways to move forward with just transition for these two sectors.

Michiko Miyamoto, ILO Country Director for Indonesia, emphasized the importance of social dialogue throughout policy making processes at all levels. “This is not an easy task. We need to look at industrial planning and dialogues that lead to a better solution that ensures the integration of gender, social protection, green recovery, skills development and the community dimension,” she stated in her opening remarks.

During the interactive and group discussions, the participants highlighted the importance of certification and reskilling to ensure workers from these sectors have better opportunities to gain new employment, the implementation of social dialogues at both enterprise and sectoral levels, the crucial development of labour market information and the identification of risks and opportunities for these two sectors.

Representative from the government agreed that there should be a coordinating mechanism between relevant stakeholders and to make the just transition as part of the governmental programme with the possibility of the development of National Action Plan or other relevant measures.

From the perspective of trade union, Maria Ermenita, representative of the Confederation of All Indonesian Trade Union (KSBSI) emphasized the importance of high policy making involvement and incorporation of these issues to the existing Tripartite Cooperation Committee; while from the perspective of employers, Paul Butarbutar from the Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo) stated that social dialogue is key in defining just transition to the future of these two sectors and workers can also work together with the impacted industry to discuss alternative solutions.