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Farmers hit by cheap imports weigh poll
boycott
By Kafil Yamin
Jakarta, Indonesia, Jan 15 (IPS) - Sacks of rice paddy have
piled up in the barn of Udung Supriatna, a rice farmer in Indramayu,
West Java. Many of them have languished there for months.
“They are not supposed to be there anymore,” he said. “They
all should have been sold.”
Usually, a rice trader from the nearby town would roll up in his big
truck and buy Udung’s product. He has not shown up since the last
harvest three months ago, leaving Udung with an unwanted stockpile of
seven tons.
In normal times, the rice would have fetched the equivalent of 570 US
dollars at the government-mandated rate of 1,000 rupiah per kilogram.
Not that there are no other traders. Indeed, Udung and his neighbors
have seen several but they have offered much lower prices.
“The traders said they used lower rates because big rice traders
in town refuse to buy their rice. The big traders prefer to buy imported
rice, which has hit the domestic market with low prices,” said
Suhadma, another peasant in the village. Like many Indonesians, Suhadma
uses only one name.
That influx of cheap imported rice has rendered ineffective the government
price controls on which farmers and consumers have long relied.
When times were lean on the farm, Udung and Suhadma would switch temporarily
to blue-collar city jobs in construction or as pedicab drivers. But
now, they said, foreign companies run most construction projects and
jobs there are hard to find.
Suhadma said he has no idea how long the situation would continue but
was sure things would become increasingly complicated for the farmers.
“Other jobs are hard to find. Big companies are reducing the number
of their workers instead of increasing them, while our children’s
school fees, food, electricity bills, and other daily needs cannot be
postponed,” he said.
Farm analysts tie the plight of the rice growers — and of other
farmers — to economic liberalization measures introduced to comply
with Asian and global free trade pacts.
But as the world’s fourth most populous country gears up for its
first multiparty direct presidential elections, the farmers blamed politicians,
including incumbent President Megawati Sukarnoputri, and said they would
not vote for any candidate.
“During her last presidential campaign, she promised very clearly
that she would protect the people, side with people, and make people-oriented
policies. That’s why I voted for her party,” Suhadma said,
referring to Megawati.
“I would say none of the promises became reality.”
Suhadma and his fellow farmers have made a clear choice, he added: “We
will vote for nobody.”
Twenty-four parties are contesting general elections slated for June
this year. Many expect the polls to be marred by violence and low voter
turnout.
“People are disappointed, distrust, and are even sick with dirty
politicians who’ve been involved in various cases of money politics
after they boasted that they would fight for the people,” said
Kurniawan Hari, an analyst at Gaja Mada University.
“Skepticism and the apathetic attitude of people will mar Indonesian
politics in 2004,” he added.
Free trade agreements, including AFTA, signed by members of the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and in force as of last year, have
compelled the government to import agricultural products it previously
bought from local farms.
The state also has had to break up monopolies enjoyed by government
bodies including the National Logistics Agency, known by its local acronym
Bulog. Once the setter of rice prices, it now operates in the shadow
of private traders.
“It was Bulog that set fixed prices for rice in an effort to protect
farmers, but it was the very same institution that damaged the policy
by importing rice,” said Siswono Yudo Husodo, chairman of the Indonesian
Farmers Association, known locally as the HKTI.
The government-run company will be powerless to resist further liberalization,
Siswono added, as Indonesia gears up to implement by 2010 trade rules
agreed with its Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum trading partners.
“The globalization whirlwind will start crushing Indonesia this
year, after it brought down important social, political, and economic
structures. Farmers will become the first victims,” said Siswono.
Not only rice growers have felt the consequences.
Hundreds of small-scale chicken hatcheries in West Java were forced
to close down during 2003 amid a flood of cheap imported chicken. More
bankruptcies are expected this year.
Vast stretches of farmland in Ciwidey, Dieng, and Purbolinggo, on the
island of Java, have been allowed to lie fallow. Children now use some
of the plots to play football.
Sutisna Purba, a grower of red chilies in Ciwidey, said he has yet to
come up with a long-term plan for his land and his family. For now,
he can only watch as shoppers flock to new food stores.
“New supermarkets and malls with cool and comfortable environments
are now here, close to our farm. They sell good quality vegetables,
fruits and meat at very affordable prices. People who used to go to
traditional markets, the places where our products are on sale, prefer
to go to the supermarket,” he said.
“Now the traditional markets are much more silent than ever,”
he added.
Sutisna said he understood why people favored the new retail venues.
“It’s prestigious for people to do shopping there. It’s
more convenient and nice too. And above all, it saves them money because
prices are lower.”
He added, ”Of course we could not compete with big traders supplying
vegetables and fruits to them.”
Women part-time workers eye gains as
job system changes
By Suvendrini Kakuchi
Tokyo, Japan, Jan 15 (IPS) - Displaying sheer grit, part-timer
Kyoko Numata, 54, worked her way for 17 years in a steak restaurant
to be successfully appointed as manager last April.
“I am still employed as a part-timer but I now have a responsible
position and I am happy about that,” says the chic, young-looking
woman who has long juggled family and work, sometimes to the point of
exhaustion.
Numata represents an emerging labor practice in Japan where female workers,
traditionally resigned to playing second fiddle to their male bosses,
are now being taken more seriously — albeit as part-timers.
“Usually women are restricted to office tasks that include pouring
tea for guests and making hundreds of copies for male bosses,”
says Midori Ito, a member of the Women’s Union, a small group of
women lobbying for gender equality in the job market.
“But hard-struck companies needing cheap labor have paved the way
for an increase in part-time jobs for women and want to keep them there.”
Labor Ministry statistics show that 21.4 million of Japan’s 52.1
million workers are women. Some 8.35 million of them are employed as
part-timers, compared to 3.7 million men, and the ranks of women in
part-time work have grown by two percent in the past year.
Women part-timers are mostly employed in factories and in service sectors
such as supermarkets, restaurants and hotels. They work long hours and
are paid less than are men.
Office ladies, mostly full-time employees, are young women fresh out
of college who usually quit their jobs when they start families.
The Labor Ministry reports the average salary for women in 2001 was
65.3 percent that of men, compared with a gap of 76 percent in the United
States and 80.6 percent in Britain in 1991.
According to business administration expert Shiho Futagami of Yokohama
National University, an employment system that long has discriminated
against women now is being overhauled.
“Japanese companies seek low paid part-timers, who are mostly women
and need to develop an employment system to suit the new workforce.
Ironically, this means women get a chance at better positions,”
she says.
Futagami, who has studied the two-track employment system in Japan,
says the reason why women, while ambitious, have stayed away from pursuing
careers is because they cannot meet conditions applied to climb up the
ladder.
For example, being prepared to move to various subsidiaries of the company
is a key component in the managerial path. In addition, companies demand
long working hours and loyalty, so changing employers is frowned upon.
“These conditions are disadvantageous to women because they have
nothing to do with talent or ability. Female workers cannot compete
with men when they start families,” says Futagami.
Several steps are now being taken in Japan that promise better working
conditions for part-timers.
One move, seen as revolutionary by women, is a new bill promising paid
maternity and welfare leave for part-timers who have worked for the
company for more than one year. Officials hope the measure will be passed
in the Diet, or parliament, this year.
“The bill is aimed at women in their twenties and thirties who
want to keep working and have families,” says labor ministry official
Akane Shibahara.
Currently, child-care leave is granted during the first year after the
birth of a child and is restricted to permanent workers.
In addition, the government is taking steps to crack down on unpaid
overtime, a regular practice in most companies. Shorter working hours
are also being proposed.
Companies have also developed new benefit systems that seem to suit
women more than men staff.
The “cafeteria plan” launched by Asahi Glass Co. for all its
employees extends points to staff, both part-time and regular. But the
menu available for an annual package of points help women as they offer
cheaper rates for programs such as hotel stays, child-rearing, nursing,
travel, and housing loans.
The Aeon supermarket chain, which employs a huge female labor force,
also plans to launch in February a new system offering employees the
chance to choose their work schedules.
Even so, women activists are not happy.
Ito, at the Women’s Union, says higher salaries for women part-timers
are needed, as well as job security — conditions that companies
are reluctant to push through given the financial burden involved.
Ito also sees the upcoming law on allocating paid child leave for part-timers
as more aimed at increasing Japan’s low birth rate, which experts
say could slow the country’s economic growth. At present, the average
woman has 1.3 children.
“What is needed is a comprehensive system by the government to
help companies balance financial problems with better working conditions
for part-timers,” Ito says.
California grocery workers strike passes
100 days
Union begins new offensive to break deadlocked negotiations
Compiled by Shawn Gaynor
Jan. 21 (AGR)—Fifteen people were arrested during a weekend
labor rally in front of Vons supermarket as a Southern California grocery
strike slid into its 100th day. The rally Saturday drew several thousand
people who formed a “human chain” at a Vons market in Garden
Grove in support of striking and locked-out workers.
The pickets were arrested on a misdemeanor charge of failing to disperse,
then cited and released.
About 70,000 grocery clerks from Kroger Co.’s Ralphs, Safeway Inc.’s
Vons and Albertsons Inc. have been locked out or on strike since Oct.
11 over contract differences, particularly the cost and scope of health
care benefits for current employees and future hires.
“Grocery workers are locked in a struggle that threatens the health
care of every working family in America,’ ILWU president Joe Donato,
whose union has come to the aid of the strikers, said. “Safeway
and the other companies are attacking those in need, so working men
and women need to stand up and make sure working families continue to
have care.’
Monitored by dozens of police in riot gear and 20 on horseback, the
demonstrators — including religious and political leaders —
wore T-shirts saying “one day longer, one day stronger” and
locked arms outside the store at 9852 Chapman Ave. in an effort to keep
customers from going inside.
“Shame on you,” the picketers yelled at those who crossed
the picket line.
“This cause is worth going to jail,” said striking worker
Lori Marrujo. “If I have to be out here for a year, I’ll be
out here for a year to send a message to all the fellow Americans that
I have — health is worth fighting for.”
The crux of the dispute is proposed cuts to medical benefits for new
hires and returning workers. Union leaders say the cuts will drastically
reduce their health care benefits.
For new hires, the grocers would contribute only $1.35 an hour per employee
towards healthcare over the life of the contract compared with a $4.60
per hour contribution that current employees.
Current employees will have their health care contribution freeze under
the proposed contact, in addition to loss of coverage and a weekly deduction
our of wages as an “employee contribution” towards the previously
complete coverage.
Also under the supermarkets’ offer, the cashier would not get a
raise over the three years of the new contract.
Striking employees became ineligible for medical benefits Jan. 1, leaving
many with ongoing medical costs to loose coverage.
The three store chains involved in the strike Safeway, Ralphs and Albertsons
have been resisting negotiations that would roll back their demands
bitterly. They have been operating with replacement workers since the
strike began.
The three store chains have been negotiating as a bloc, and in a deal
made before the strike the three chains allegedly agreed to share profits
during the labor dispute.
Though the three supermarket chains are profitable, the companies say
they need labor concessions to compete in the future with the likes
of Wal-Mart, which pays its workers less and provides fewer health benefits.
Still the lengthy strike has brought pressure on the chains, and some
analysts estimate that Safeway alone absorbed a $496 million decline
in sales in the fourth quarter at its Vons division because of the strike.
The grocery union considers Safeway, led by chief executive Steve Burd,
to be the most inflexible player in the dispute.
In order to break the impasse, the ALF-CIO has committed to the success
of the strike and has eddoreced a new strategy, calling for its members
across the nation to implement a broader attack against three big supermarket
chains.
The plan involves pressuring the supermarket chains by hounding executives
and directors with phone calls and visits and staging demonstrations
across the country.
Other elements include wider use of informational pickets outside California,
town hall meetings, demonstrations at the homes of company executives
and pressuring big investors to punish the companies for their stance
in the dispute by selling off their shares.
“The companies are choosing to do this with the encouragement of
Wall Street and, if they can do it in Southern California, they can
do it across the country. We are expanding the reach of the UFCW to
try to defend these workers,” said union spokesman Ron Blackwell,
director of corporate affairs for the AFL-CIO.
“They (the grocery chains) are taking this position expecting they
will be able to break the resolve of the union in this strongest market
of Southern California, and when they do that, they will take their
show on the road to other markets and try to impose it where the union
has less strength,” Blackwell said. “We’re going to stop
them.”
United Food and Commercial Workers who represent the strikers said the
added support will cement the notion that the Southern California labor
dispute has national implications for health care policy.
The AFL-CIO has also committed two of its most rough and tumble organizers
to directing the new pressure campaign. Richard Trumka, who played a
key role in resolving the West Coast port lockout, and Ron Judd, who
coordinated AFL-CIO protests at the World Trade Organization meeting
in Seattle, are leading the efforts.
Trumka, a lawyer with reputation on the strike line, came to prominence
during a miners’ strike against Pittston Coal in 1989 and 1990.
During the 11-month struggle, striking miners in Virginia, West Virginia
and Kentucky amassed $65 million in court-ordered fines for illegal
acts. State police and federal marshals made 3,600 arrests before the
battle over retiree benefits was resolved.
Trumka was also a pivotal figure in resolving the West Coast port lockout
in 2002.
Endorsing the new action to break the impasse, and affirming there solidarity
with the grocery workers on the strike line, the International Longshore
and Warehouse Union launched a support campaign, pledging to raise $1,015,000
to assist the grocery strikers with medical expenses and insurance premiums.
The ILWU locals for the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will make
an immediate payment of $155,000 to help the neediest families keep
their healthcare.
Officials for Ralphs and Albertsons refused to comment on the AFL-CIO’s
plans.
So for now, the dispute goes on at the 852 supermarkets affected in
Southern and Central California. Although both sides remain far apart,
pressure keeps building to find a settlement.
Sources: AP, KABC-TV, LA Times, Miami Independent
Journal, Pasadena Star-News, San Diego Union Tribune
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