By Max Lane
SYDNEY — Indonesian and Australian activists and trade unionists failed in their efforts to put a resolution before the ACTU Congress stating support for the newly forming independent worker organisations in Indonesia and opposing the Suharto regime's repression of such organisations.
Activists from independent worker organisations in Indonesia were in Sydney to put the case for the ACTU to adopt a stronger position, especially in relation to Australian government and ACTU relations with the Indonesian Ministry of Labour (Depnaker) and the regime's puppet trade union, the All Indonesia Workers' Union (SPSI). They were concerned that the Australian government and the ACTU may be planning to increase cooperation with Depnaker and SPSI.
To date, the ACTU has opposed the SPSI becoming a member of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), because it has not viewed the SPSI as an independent union. However, last year, ACTU officials received a tripartite delegation from Indonesia which included representatives of the SPSI.
There is now a plan for a return visit by an Australian tripartite delegation. It is difficult to imagine such a visit occurring without talks taking place between the ACTU and the SPSI.
Such discussions will be used by the Suharto regime to bolster its campaign to improve the image of the SPSI. The claim that the SPSI is a legitimate and credible union is the main excuse used by the regime to ban new independent worker organisations.
ACTU officials state that these visits and exchanges do not mean that the ACTU supports the SPSI and that there is no plan to change its opposition to ICFTU affiliation. However, ambiguities in the ACTU policy make it very susceptible to use by the Suharto regime in its propaganda activities.
First, there is the willingness to lend credence to bogus tripartite committees in Indonesia. There is no real tripartitism in Indonesia, only bipartitism, as the SPSI is in effect an arm of Suharto's power.
Secondly, despite the important voice that the ACTU has in institutions such as the Trade Union Training Authority (TUTA), there has been no expression of concern regarding the planned visit of a TUTA staff member to devise a plan for improving trade union training in Indonesia, which could proceed only if it includes the SPSI or Depnaker.
Probably the most worrying concern is the reluctance of the ACTU leadership (despite pressure from its affiliates, especially from those with a direct experience with Indonesia such as the West Australian Trades and Labor Council) to strengthen its stance and formalise its position through the Congress.
Indonesian activists at the congress negotiated a draft resolution with representatives of a range of trade unions who then presented it to ACTU President Martin Ferguson. Ferguson refused to support the resolution going to the congress on the grounds that there were no international items on the agenda and that there were no grounds for giving Indonesia "special treatment".
He later reaffirmed this position in a private meeting with the Indonesian activists and a representative of Aksi (Indonesia Solidarity Action).
Aksi, a support group for the democracy movements in Indonesia, issued a statement of concern arguing that at this time in the development of the still fragile independent workers movement in Indonesia, it is urgent that Australian trade unions:
- strengthen and formalise their position on the right to freely organise in Indonesia;
- adopt a clear policy of no involvement with the SPSI or Indonesian Ministry of Manpower that can be used to add to the legitimacy of the SPSI;
- urge the Australian government not to provide any direct or indirect assistance to the Indonesian Ministry of Manpower or the SPSI.