BUILDING AND WOOD WORKERS INTERNATIONAL (BWI)
2006 Solidarity Campaign
On 20 February 2006, a trade union delegation including BWI, MTUC and IUF handed over a dossier to the President of the RSPO, Jan Kees Vis (Unilever) attending the executive Board meeting of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in Kuala Lumpur.
The protest delegation called on the RSPO to act urgently to ensure that the rights of the 701 dismissed workers are restored and their jailed trade union leaders are immediately freed and all charges are dropped.
The dossier included protest letters and documents clearly outlining trade union and human rights violations by Indonesia's largest palm oil export company Musim Mas. Musim Mas is a member of the RSPO and sits on the executive board. The RSPO represents all stakeholeders in the palm oil chain of production. Among the "principles and critera" for sustainable palm oil
production: trade union rights. RSPO Executive Board meeting in November
2005 chose to do nothing following a PowerPoint presentation of claims by representatives from the Musim Mas Group. The result is that 5 trade unionists remain in jail.
The last witness hearing was on 21 February 2006 and went as expected. PT Musim Mas Director failed to appear at court. The sentence demand hearing is set for 3 March 2006. Please continue to join and support BWI or IUF international solidarity campaign until trade union rights are restored.
