2 Indonesian union leaders of FKUI-KSBSI arrested at DAP Palm Oil Plantation

In June 2017, Riau Police (Polda) arrested two militant workers of the General and Informal Construction Federation (FKUI-KSBSI) Commissariat Board of PT Dian Anggara Persada (DAP), and they have still not been released. The company DAP is a supplier of Olenex, which is owned by ADM and Wilmar with headquarters in Switzerland and operating in Netherlands and Germany. Olenex also a member of the global platform Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
Both Jhon Veri Panjaitan is the chairman and secretary of Herianto who is Plant Level Union leaders of FKUI-KSBSI at PT Dian Anggara Persada (DAP) operating in Kandis, Siak. The arrested have been held since Monday at Riau Police Headquarters.
Behind this case is a great struggle over rights when 56 company workers were dismissed unilaterally by the company. The value of rights that have been calculated reached 2.4 billion IDR, consisting of 867 million IDR for salaries paid by the company and 1.6 billion IDR for the severance fees.

Call to action: Sign the petition for a Treaty to address human rights abuses committed by transnational corporations and other business enterprises

The Treaty Alliance has released it's fourth statement to coincide with the 2nd meeting of the UN Intergovernmental Working Group on Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises (TNC-OBE). This alliance of committed networks and campaign groups around the world are joining to collectively help organise advocacy activities in support of developing a binding international instrument to address human rights abuses committed by transnational corporations and other business enterprises. The Treaty Alliance has called on civil society organisations (CSOs) everywhere to take action to combat corporate capture. At the recent treaty Alliance gathering in Brazil they particularly called on CSOs to demand that the forthcoming United Nations (UN) binding treaty contain strong provisions that prohibit the interference of corporations in the process of forming and implementing laws and policies, as well as administering justice, at all national and international levels.
We call States to participate actively in upcoming negotiations of the international treaty to ensure protection of human rights from the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises

Sign the petition here!

CFTUI 5th Congress

WSM India partner, the Confederation of Free Trade Unions India (CFTUI) celebrated tripling its membership to 1,6 million workers and its new affiliation to ITUC and ITUC-A during its 5th Congress on 10 and 11th of September 2017 in Visakhapatnam, Andra Pradesh, India. Besides passing resolutions regarding the economic, political and social situation and planning CFTUIs participation in October’s General Strike, the reports from the various states shared some impressive achievements:

• Including 150.000 domestic workers through the recently joined unions;
• Combatting 10 Special Economic Zones and providing 3.000 acres of government land to landless farmers;
• Ensuring social security for informal workers, such as pension and dearness allowances for the home guards in Tripura;
• Nearly doubling the minimum wage for informal economy workers in Delhi through the Shops and Establishment Union.

The 365 delegates and participants representing 14 sectors and 21 states also decided during this 5th Congress to accommodate this growth by enlarging the Executive Bureau of CFTUI, one of the few non-political trade union in India, from 34 to 50 members and unanimously re-elected M Kanaka Rao as President and M Neeraj Chauby as General Secretary for another four years.

WSM Asia Coordinator Bruno Deceukelier attended as Chief Guest and South Coordinator Francina Varghese also attended, and gave interviews (link).