Six companies signed a commitment to improve and strengthen the companies’ labour relations through renegotiating and reformulating the collective bargaining agreements at the company level. These six companies were part of the ILO’s programme through its Labour Standards in Global Supply Chains, aimed to enhance labour compliance and working conditions in the garment supply chains through effective collective bargaining and dialogue.

The signing of this commitment marked the launch of the pilot enterprises under the Effective Collective Bargaining Programme which was held in Jakarta in March 2018. The signing was conducted by ILO Country Director in Indonesia, Michiko Miyamoto, with each representative of the companies: PT Chang Sin Indonesia, PT Doosan Dunia Busana, PT Grand Best Indonesia, PT Greentex Indonesia Utama, PT Kanindo Makmur Jaya and PT Mulya Cemerlang Abadi.

“Overall, there are 10 companies that have committed to renegotiating and reformulating their collective agreements so that these agreements are fully representing workers’ as well as employers’ rights and responsibilities. It is hoped that these agreements can provide more conducive working conditions and improve productivity that, in turn, would be able to enhance workers’ welfare and sustainability of the company,” said Christianus Panjaitan, Programme Manager of ILO’s Labour Standards Programme.

Christianus explained that the launch of the second phase of the ILO’s pilot enterprise was a follow-up to the success of the first phase launched last year. Seven companies participated in the first phase, in which four enterprises had successfully renegotiated and reformulated their collective bargaining agreements.

One of the companies that have witnessed improvements in its working relations was PT Semarang Garment. Aris Susatyo, the Trade Union Representative of PT Semarang Garment, admitted that positive changes were felt by the workers when they could renegotiate the collective bargaining agreement together with the management.

“Before joining the ILO training on collective bargaining agreement, other fellow workers and I had a lack of understanding about collective bargaining agreement. After I studied the contents of the company’s collective agreement, around 70 to 80 percent were the replication from the existing labour laws and regulations,” said Susatyo telling his experience.

After participating in the training, he just realized that effective collective bargaining agreement should respond to the main needs and concerns of both workers and the management. “Thus, a good collective bargaining agreement should be able to improve workers’ welfare and ensure the sustainability of business,” added Susatyo.

Therefore, before renegotiating the agreement, the trade union team conducted a survey regarding main needs and concerns of all workers. This survey was conducted to identify daily, weekly and monthly needs of workers, including the needs of women workers.

After going through an intensive negotiation process, PT Semarang Garment was able to develop a new collective bargaining agreement that was well-received by both workers and the management.

Alexandra Hesti Handayani, Head of Human Resource Department of PT Semarang Garment, said that from the beginning, the management, just like the workers, was committed to improve working relations through collective bargaining agreement that was responsive to the needs and concerns of both workers and the management.

“The management is transparently reported the company’s financial charts and reports to the workers so that they can review and judge by themselves the capability of the company. In addition, the management always ensure that the agreement is in line with the existing labour laws and regulations,” said Hesti.

Building and strengthening trusts between workers and the management, said Christianus, were the key of training method given by the ILO to workers’ and employers’ representatives. The training method given was a method based on evidence. Thus, the survey played a crucial role to fully learn about real needs and concerns of workers and management.

“Collective bargaining agreement is an effective way to ensure rights and responsibilities of workers and employers, including the rights of women workers such as rights to reproductive health, free from discrimination and so forth,” continued Christianus. He, thus, hoped that positive results from pilot enterprises could further encourage companies in Indonesia to renegotiate and reformulate their collective bargaining agreements.

The 2017 latest data showed that there were only 13,624 collective bargaining agreements from around 220 thousands enterprises in Indonesia. “Through this pilot trainings and enterprises, the ILO hope that the number of collective bargaining agreements in the country would be increased, considering effective collective bargaining agreements can improve workers’ and companies’ performance,” emphasized Chris.