Unions back aviation workers in IKAGI-Indonesia

May 9, 2011

Unions across the world have been standing by their aviation worker colleagues in Indonesia, who are seeing their union rights violated.

workers at Indonesian airline Garuda, represented by the ITF-affiliated Ikatan Awak Kabin Garuda Indonesia (IKAGI), are being denied effective recognition of their collective bargaining rights. Management is also unilaterally imposing regulations and intimidating union members, particularly members of the IKAGI executive board. It is reported that there has been no collective bargaining agreement in place since 31 December 2009, despite efforts by IKAGI and other unions to negotiate a new settlement.

Affiliates sent their protest letters to the Indonesian government calling for intervention to: end the intimidation of IKAGI executive board members and unionists; stop the imposition of regulations without consultation with IKAGI and other unions; implement the terms of the collective agreement and call on Garuda management to conclude negotiations in good faith on outstanding issues. Their messages were sent in the run-up to Garuda’s annual stakeholder meeting on 29 April; the meeting was set to evaluate the performance of the state-owned company’s board of directors.

In a letter to Dr H Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, president of Indonesia, dated 28 April, ITF general secretary David Cockroft reminded him that the government had ratified International Labour Organization conventions on freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. He said: “I am writing to draw your attention to this extremely serious and unacceptable situation in Indonesia’s flag carrier and to seek your and your cabinet’s support to remedy the situation as a matter of urgency.”

Photo: A Garuda cabin crew member [Gunawan Kartapranata, CC by-sa 3.0]