In the month of November, a group of the employees who were laid off from the garment industry in Indonesia had accumulated over $4 million as the severance pay which their employers had owed to them
This was a rare victory that had been achieved with the assistance of the labor unions locally and the international groups of advocacy along with the retailers such as Nike. However this is not likely to happen again. The government has been moving ahead with a plan through which they are going to roll the labor protections back in the hope of getting more foreign investments.
In the month of November in 2018, a West Java based factory that had been producing sportswear for international retailers such as Nike had shut down and this led to close to 2000 workers being jobless. Under the generous laws of severance in Indonesia, most of these workers must be eligible for a severance pay of 18 months each which is going to be equal to nearly $4000 each.
The victory that led to collection of dues from the companies was a major moment for the garment industry of Indonesia. The country on paper has the severance laws which are most generous as per W.H.O.
However when it comes to practice, the advocates say that they are not as effective and generous. The garment industry already has had a tough past with respect to the withholding severances and now there is a plan by the government to bring about an overhaul in the practices as they are going to get weaker in early January where they will be reducing the minimum wages and making it easier for the companies to rely on the temporary workers.
