Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia took disciplinary action in October 2018 against Sovi Fradina Mardani Masrip, the president of the independent, democratic union at Coca-Cola Bandung, for informing his members of their legal rights.
When management launched a retrenchment programme, workers asked questions in a WhatsApp Messenger group about the proposed severance pay. Sovi Fradina shared information on the legal provisions covering severance pay and how these legal entitlements were calculated. Management immediately issued a third and final warning letter against Sovi Fradina on 19 October accusing him of «deliberately disseminating information to employees» that disrupted the retrenchment programme and caused harm to the company. By issuing a third warning letter (and bypassing a first and second warning letter), management declared his action a serious offense that would lead to suspension and possibly termination at any time up until 19 April 2019.
On 26 October the union rejected management’s retrenchment proposal, arguing that alternatives were available. On 9 November, five union members, including the union general secretary, deputy general secretary and communications officer, received letters stating that they were being terminated within the framework of a voluntary redundancy programme and requesting them to return the signed letters by 12 November. When the union responded that the members rejected termination, the five were given new letters stating that they were being terminated as part of an “efficiency” programme and should they refuse to sign, they would receive no dismissal pay. Only one other worker besides the members of the independent union was terminated.
The five union members reported for work on 12 November and refused to leave the plant. There was a meeting with management on 14 November, but management refused to give specific reasons for the termination of the five and declared there would be no further meetings.
