Coca-Cola workers in Indonesia formed the Coca-Cola Indonesia Workers Council (CCIWC) at the beginning of May 2018, uniting four independent unions around the country after the company tried to impose a national collective agreement. Management refused to recognise the CCIWC and continued to harass union members while refusing to reinstate the independent union leaders Atra and Lutfi, sacked in 2016.
The collective agreement had been negotiated with the Confederation of All Indonesian Workers’ Unions (KSPSI), an organisation inherited from the Suharto military dictatorship. The new agreement was designed to facilitate a major restructuring operation by Coca-Cola, which involved layoffs and attacks on works rights and benefits.
On May Day, to protest the terms and conditions of the national agreement, workers at the bottling plant in Semarang boycotted working on a public holiday. Management went to the workers’ homes to insist they return to work. They refused, and management threatened disciplinary action.
