Workers organized under the Mining and Energy Industry Workers Union (SBIPE) Bantaeng have on ongoing 5 day-strong strike
Stop Unilateral Layoffs! Fulfill Workers’ Rights Now!
Bantaeng, July 18, 2025
Hundreds of workers from PT. Huadi Nickel Alloy and its subsidiaries in the Bantaeng Industrial Zone (KIBA), South Sulawesi, are currently facing a wave of harmful corporate policies including layoffs, unilateral furloughs, violations of minimum wage standards, and systematic labor exploitation. Workers organized under the Mining and Energy Industry Workers Union (SBIPE) Bantaeng have been on strike for five consecutive days since Monday, July 14, 2025, without any serious response from either the company or the government.
The Reality Behind the National Strategic Project of Industrial Downstreaming
PT. Huadi Nickel Alloy is a nickel smelting company producing Ferro Nickel-a key material for stainless steel-and is part of the National Strategic Project (PSN) initiated during President Jokowi’s administration and continued under President Prabowo’s industrialization agenda. Unfortunately, the project has revealed its darker side for the workers.
Layoffs and Unilateral Furloughs
In 2024, the company laid off 67 workers. Since June 1, 2025, its subsidiary PT.
Huadi Wuzhou Nickel Industry unilaterally furloughed 350 workers. Meanwhile, 600 more workers from PT. Huadi Yatai Nickel Industry are now at risk of facing the same fate, with the company citing the classic excuse of limited nickel ore supply.
Exploitation Through Excessive Working Hours
Since its operation began in 2021, the company has subjected workers to excessive working hours through shift systems reaching up to 240 hours per month-well above the legal maximum of 173 hours/month. Regular workers have also faced excessive working hours without proper rest periods. These excess hours have not been compensated as overtime pay. According to the Labor Inspection Unit of Bulukumba Region IV, one worker was found to be owed IDR 83 million in unpaid overtime. This situation is widespread among workers, and the total unpaid overtime across the company is estimated to reach approximately IDR 200 billion.
Below-Standard Wages
From January to July 2025, workers received only IDR 3,500,000/month – below the South Sulawesi Provincial Minimum Wage (UMP) of IDR 3,657,527. Worse, wages were calculated based on actual working days. If a month included public holidays, workers’ wages were reduced accordingly-even though their pay slips continued to show a fixed IDR 3,500,000.
Workers Demand Justice
This situation adds to the long list of violations in the industrial downstreaming projects, which have already been tainted by land grabbing, environmental degradation, poor workplace safety, and a series of work accidents-some fatal.
Yet, five days into the strike, there has been no substantial response from either the company or the government. Local and national authorities have merely suggested that workers resolve the matter through industrial dispute mechanisms-processes that are bureaucratic and ill-suited to urgent labor grievances.
Ironically, the company has blamed the strike for halting the operations of three of its factories, denying the fact that layoffs and furloughs were already underway before the strike began.
We, from AGRA and SBIPE Bantaeng, firmly state the following demands:
- PT. Huadi Nickel Alloy must immediately pay all owed overtime and compensation for excess working hours in full.
- PT. Huadi Nickel Alloy and its subsidiaries must halt all unilateral furloughs until a mutual agreement is reached with the workers or their union.
- Ensure the fulfillment of all rights of the 350 workers who have been furloughed.
- Fully compensate the 67 workers who were laid off, in accordance with existing labor laws.
- Suspend all Ferro Nickel exports until all workers’ rights have been met.
- The Indonesian Ministry of Manpower must launch an independent investigation into all labor violations at KIBA, especially within PT. Huadi Nickel Alloy and its subsidiaries, and impose appropriate sanctions.
- The government must evaluate all National Strategic Projects (PSN) and downstream industrial programs that have proven harmful to workers.
Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/DMSBezsSZ1L/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link