Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – Indonesian labor unions grouped under the Asian Labor Networking in International Financing Institutions (ALNI) said "slavery" occurs in projects funded by the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
ALNI reported serious ADB violations of core International Labour Organization (ILO) standards in its infrastructure projects in Kalimantan, West Java and Riau, and violations committed by the World Bank in Bali.
Concluding their two-day meeting in Jakarta on Friday, union members planned a rally at the ADB and World Bank offices in Jakarta, the Presidential Palace and the House of Representatives to convey their story of institutional slavery. They also called for close monitoring of labor conditions in both of the banks' projects in Indonesia.
The ALNI would pressure the House to push the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) to investigate the ADB and World Bank-funded development projects and review the government's proposed loans, ALNI and All-Indonesian Workers Organization (OPSI) secretary-general Timbul Siregar said.
"The funds Indonesia has received from the ADB and the World Bank are foreign loans that must be paid back with interest. We suspect corrupt government officials receive kickbacks to maintain the country's dependence on foreign loans," he said, adding that Indonesia has received US$151 billion in loans from the ADB.
ALNI conducted a survey of the ADB's Rp 100 billion road rehabilitation projects between June and July and found that more than 1,000 workers employed in the project in Sanggau, West Kalimantan, were underpaid, housed in inhumane accommodations and were not insured by the compulsory social security programs (Jamsostek).
ADB spokeswoman Ayun Sundari questioned the results of ALNI's survey, which she said was conducted unsystematically and without any information from the bank's management.
"In consultation with the executing agency we are reviewing the issues brought to our attention with respect to the road rehabilitation project in Kalimantan. As stated earlier, the ADB is committed to ensuring the project is implemented in accordance with the prevailing labor standards," she said.
The ADB had already checked with state-owned construction company Waskita Karya, which operates the project, and learned that all 300 workers employed by the project have been registered with Jamsostek, but some may not know they have been insured.
The House would ask the government to suspend the programs if it had to borrow money from international financing institutions to provide social security, United Development Party legislator Surya Chandra Surapaty said.