August 30, 2001

Union Leader Ngadinah Mawardi acquitted of all charges

Here is a report on the case from the United Students Against Sweatshops' Indonesia team who were at the trial on the final day:

Ngadinah Mawardi, a 29-year old worker and union leader, was acquitted of all charges against her last week (on August 30th) in an important and historic victory for workers' legal rights in Indonesia. In her eighteenth appearance in court, the main judge for the hearing finally admitted that no conclusive evidence had been brought forward and that therefore the defendant must be freed of all charges.

Ngadinah had already spent twenty-nine days in jail, and faced the possibility of another seven years, for allegedly leading an 8000-person strike at her factory last September. She was charged with, "using violence or force or provoking others to use force," and "committing unpleasant acts". The law relevant to the latter charge dates back to Dutch colonial times and is used frequently to criminalize industrial action by workers.

Throughout the trial Ngadinah maintained that the strike was a spontaneous eruption of frustration at years of starvation wages, forced overtime, and other issues.

"In the factory, each lane of forty-seven workers has a target of 620 shoes per day...720 if we work overtime. The very minimum target for a day is usually 700. If we don't reach our target the management gets very angry with us. Angry to the point that sometimes they throw shoes at the workers," Ngadinah explained to the judge. "This is why the workers struck, not because I told them to."

More than one hundred and fifty of Ngadinahs fellow workers, mostly young women from various factories, attended the trial wearing black and red bandanas with the slogan, "Free Ngadinah! Labor Organizers are Not Criminals!"

Before the trial started, organizers from Ngadinahs union, Perpubas, (Indonesia Shoe Manufacturers Union) held a rally outside. Many were expecting a tough sentence, but as the verdict was read, the audience erupted with applause, cheers, and raised fists. After the trial, the workers returned to their bus chanting and singing triumphantly.

Ngadinah's case is also a victory for international labor solidarity. Both the United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) and the AFL-CIOs American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS) had been following her case closely and were in attendance at her final trial. USAS students have been sending photos and information about Ngadinah back to the U.S. since July and helped organize a webchat with Ngadinah on UNITE's website, www.behindthelabel.org. This kind of international attention, including letters written directly to Adidas, to Indonesian justice officials and to Ngadinah's factory, made it clear that the eyes of the world were on this case. This verdict will hopefully prove to be the beginning of a new era of labor standards in Indonesia.

It was only two years ago that Dita Sari, the famous student activist, was freed after spending three years in prison for organizing a peaceful strike. In 1993 a worker named Marsinah, in a situation very similar to Ngadinah's, was brutally tortured, raped and murdered for her role in a demonstration at a factory in East Java. And just last March a key labor organizer from a Nike factory was slashed in the head with a machete, barely escaping with his life.

This is also the story of the power of worker education and unionization. Only two years ago Ngadinah says she was blind to issues of workers' rights. Now she has been transformed into a powerful activist who was unfazed by prison and successfully defended herself in court. Her courage is contagious and she has a message for workers and activists in the United States: "Unions, students, and citizens who care about workers rights in America, I hope you can unite your efforts and together we can struggle for workers' rights; in the U.S. and Indonesia and everywhere. We don't need to distinguish between us, we are all workers, and all oppressed. People everywhere need their rights recognized." Ngadinah plans to return to work next week and continue the struggle. We will keep you updated on her story, especially if she needs a bit of international pressure to get her job back.

This story brought to you by two members of United Students Against Sweatshops currently researching labor conditions in Indonesia. They can be contacted directly at buruh@riseup.net