
Issue No 92		20 April 2001

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International

The Docklands and Global Labour

Ma Wei Pin and Jasper Goss recount how the struggle of a group of Indonesian hotel workers effected a lucrative Melbourne contract.

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The decision by the Victorian Docklands Authority not to award the Docklands development project to Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok will be welcomed by workers everywhere, especially the hotel workers of the Jakarta Shangri-La, partly-owned by Robert Kuok's transnational corporation Shangri-La Asia.

For the last three months workers at the luxury five-star hotel have been locked out of their workplace, faced harassment and assault and struggled to feed their families.

The dispute began on December 22nd last year, when management at the hotel, with no prior warning, dismissed the president of the Shangri-La workers' union, Halilintar Nurdin.

For three months previous to the dismissal the union had sought to negotiate better wages (one night's accommodation is more than two months basic salary of most of the hotel's workers) and a pension plan (the hotel is the only five-star hotel in Jakarta not to have a pension plan for its workers).

The arbitrary attempt to dismiss Halilintar produced a spontaneous workplace demonstration, whereupon, management shut down the hotel and moved all the guests to other locations. Many of the workers felt that the closure of the hotel was preplanned and designed to undermine and ultimately destroy the union.

The union from the moment the hotel was closed sought direct negotiations with management. These efforts were either largely ignored or were met with an absence of good faith on management's behalf.

The management, in early January this year, issued hundreds of dismissal notices, specifically targeting union members, including those who had been on holiday at the time of the protest on December 22nd.

The union, which is a member of the Independent Hotel Workers Federation of Indonesia, requested help as an affiliate of the International Union of Food, Agricultre, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), the trade union which represents hotel workers globally.

The IUF has sought meetings with Robert Kuok and his fellow Indonesian investors, the Lyman Group, on numerous occasions and continues to do so. IUF representatives remain prepared to meet Mr Kuok in Hong Kong (his headquarters), Jakarta or Melbourne at any time and at their own cost. However, to date, Mr Kuok, through his representatives, has failed to offer any reasonable opportunity to meet to explore an amicable end to the dispute and sadly appears more interested in delaying any fair and just resolution to this bitter dispute.

The IUF, as an international federation of unions, believes that transnational corporations cannot divorce their activities in one country from their activities in another. A company that victimises workers and treats them with impunity in one country, cannot expect such practices to be ignored internationally. The globalisation of capital brings about both the globalisation of its social responsibilities and the globalisation of labour's response, meaning a deepening awareness of, and the need for, solidarity amongst workers throughout the world.

That was why the building unions in Victoria threatened a boycott of the Docklands project if Robert Kuok's company was awarded the tender without settling the dispute in Jakarta fairly and in good faith.

Robert Kuok's Shangri-La Asia operates close to 40 luxury hotels from Dubai to Fiji. According to the corporation's final results statement for 2000, Shangri-La Asia made US$96 million profit after taxation (up 23% from 1999).

As transnational companies increase their profits and geographic scope of activities they will necessarily attract increased public scrutiny. In particular, people will want to know whether a corporation's public image of model citizenship actually matches practices "on the ground".

The campaign to restore the Shangri-La workers their jobs continues with protests outside Indonesian embassies in Seoul to Brussels last week alone.

Robert Kuok may not have won a lucrative contract in Melbourne, but attention will stay focused on his companies, and their subsidiaries, whatever country they operate in, until the dispute in Jakarta is resolved in good faith with a return to work.

Ma Wei Pin is regional secretary of the IUF Asia & Pacific. Jasper Goss is information and research officer with IUF Asia & Pacific

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  Issue 92 contents

Interview: Beyond the Accord
Simon Crean cut his teeth in the trade union movement, now he's gearing up to run the economy.

Politics: In Defence of Della�s List
The proposition that trade unions should ask members of the ALP for a commitment that they uphold Party policy should hardly be controversial.

Corporate: The Real Rorters
The unspoken sore of the WorkCover Scheme is non-compliance by employers. None more so that in the construction industry, as this CFMEU paper details.

Legal: In the Real World
Lawyer Ross Goodridge exposes the defficincies in the new medical assessment guidelines for workers compensation by looking at real case studies.

International: The Docklands and Global Labour
Ma Wei Pin and Jasper Goss recount how the struggle of a group of Indonesian hotel workers effected a lucrative Melbourne contract.

History: Sweatshops in America
Since the dawning of the Industrial Revolution, many generations of Americans have toiled in sweatshops.

Unions: Losers Never Start
At the end of her six week vigil, Grenadier delegate Michelle Booth gave her heartfelt thanks to the trade union movement.

Review: Working Classes: Global Realities
The Socialist Register 2001 looks at class realities and the lives of workers in the new century.

Satire: Democrats Change Leader
The Democrats have a new leader after belatedly discovering that Meg Lees had become the second Democrats leader in a row to defect to another party.

» Costa To Join Della�s List

» Compo Campaign Gathers Steam

» Della�s List: Dissident MPs Targeted

» Day of Mourning to be Compo Focus

» Small Steps in Negotiations � But Hard Yards Still to Come

» Important First Step for E-Mail Privacy

» Outraged Cleaners Continue AXA Axings Protests

» Grenadier Picket Ends � But Legacy Lives On

» Entitlement Dramas in Health and Printing

» Nurses Still Waiting on Olympics Bonus

» IRC Delays Hit Eight Month Barrier

» Claims of Dirty Tricks Conspiracy at Mobil

» Sydney Water Workers On Strike

» MUA Rides Anti-pollution Wave

» Governments Urged On Child Slavery

» Time To Act on Pay Discrimination

» Construction Union Supports Folk Festival

» Activists Notebook