Worker dried in sun

Worker dried in sun

Three hundred workers in a garment factory in Jakarta protested recently after the factory management forced a worker to stand several hours in midday sun as punishment.

The worker, Muhana, a woman in her 20s, had taken damaged, unusable garments to use when her menstrual period arrived early.

Muhana had asked permission to go home. Despite Indonesian law giving women the right to take menstruation leave, she was refused permission to leave the factory. Without any napkins or tampons, she took a piece of the damaged garment.

As she came out of the storeroom where the material was kept, she was stopped by the manager and loudly accused of stealing. Muhana tried to explain what had happened, but was ordered to undergo punishment of standing in the sun in the factory courtyard until told she could go.

After two hours in the hot sun, she collapsed unconscious. Several workers took her to a nearby clinic. Meanwhile the 300 workers in Hobby Santosa Pty Ltd stopped work and demonstrated in the factory compound. The factory manager hid in the toilet.

A community worker publicised the incident, and the factory manager was called in by the police. She apologised to Muhana and paid Rp50,000 (A$35) in compensation.

[Information from Tempo magazine, July 17.]

From GLW issue 107