On 17 May 2019, Reni Desmiria was arrested at her home by police armed with automatic weapons. She was a contract worker at a seafood processing factory in Lampung run by Bumi Menara Internusa (BMI), a major supplier for the global seafood industry. She was also secretary of the SPBMI (BMI Workers’ Union), which was formed in 2012 amid anger over the abusive treatment of workers on casual employment contracts. Women employees were forced to work night shifts for over a year without any shift rotation. Over 1,000 workers are employed in the factory, and most are not permanent and do not have social security or healthcare cover.
Her arrest was made after the company brought charges, having decided eight years after hiring her that she was guilty of submitting a fake high school certificate in order to get the job. It was perhaps no coincidence, however, that the decision to arrest her was made after she had successfully enrolled many workers in the mandatory government health insurance scheme. Not only did her “crime” require the police to be armed at her arrest, but the company also felt it required the maximum criminal penalty of six years’ imprisonment. On 2 June, BMI management visited Reni Desmiria in prison to inform her that she would be released immediately on condition that she resigned her position at the company (this visit, thus, confirming that her arrest, imprisonment and prosecution were at the behest of BMI). She refused.
Her trial went ahead, with many trade unionists at the local, national and international level campaigning for her release. In early September, the court sentenced her to four months imprisonment, with time served. She was released within days and reunited with her family.
