Union leader Lutfi Ariyanto was dismissed from the Coca-Cola Amatil bottling plant in Bawen (Central Java) on 21 November 2017. He was chair of the Serikat Buruh Mandiri Coca-Cola (SBMCC) union at the plant and his dismissal came after persistent anti-union tactics by Amatil.
Back in 2015, Coca-Cola Amatil workers in the Jakarta - Cibitung area (West Java) faced harassment and disciplinary action when they formed their independent union, the SBCCD, which was legally registered in May 2015. The union’s chairman Atra Narwanto was suspended on 30 June, and finally dismissed in October 2015.
Workers at the Bawen bottling plant began to organise their union in November 2016, and it was formally registered on 9 February 2017. It held its first general assembly on 18 February and elected Lutfi Ariyanto as chairman. On 21 February management told Lutfi he would be transferred from the Bawen plant to a sales office in Madiun, 170 kilometres away. Lutfi rejected the transfer as a violation of his trade union rights, as it would prevent him from representing his union members. All attempts to find a solution that would maintain his rights were rejected by local management and by the company, Australia-based Coca-Cola Amatil, leading to his formal termination in November 2017.
The company has consistently refused to reinstate either of the union leaders or enter into collective bargaining with the union.
In the meantime, Coca-Cola Amatil retains Suharto era collective bargaining agreements that are effectively disciplinary codes to control and manage the workforce. They date from an era when questioning the actions of the worker organisations appointed and sustained by the military was legally tantamount to sedition.