Hundreds of palm oil plantation workers and mill workers of PT SPMN (Sarana Prima Multi Niaga) staged a strike in front of the company’s office in East Kotawaringin district in Central Kalimantan province on April 3rd, 2025. This Large Private Company (LPC) owns around 8,497.2 hectares of land in 2 estates and 1 factory in 2 sub-districts, namely Parenggean sub-district and Cempaga Hulu sub-district. This strike was carried out because the previous action on Friday, March 21st 2025, was not responded well by the company.
Around 900 workers were mobilized by the Indonesian Palm Oil Workers Union (SEPASI), bringing several demands to the company. The first demand of the oil palm plantation workers was the improvement of the company’s health facilities and services. One of the points of this demand is that sick workers are often unable to obtain a medical certificate because they are not issued by clinic doctors. However, to continue to get daily wages, these sick workers are required to have a medical certificate. In connection to this, the workers are also urging the company to dismiss the company clinic doctor who they deem to be the cause of the company’s poor health services.
The second demand is for the company to obtain, as quickly as possible, its clinic’s Operational License, so that when the workers are sick and need a referral to the hospital, the company clinic can issue it, and the workers would no longer need to go to the public clinic which is considerably far. In addition, the workers demanded to have more company ambulance available. Currently, there is only one company ambulance available in two estates and one factory which has thousands of workers. This can be considered very inadequate, especially in situations where workers who need an ambulance are in a different estate from the location of the ambulance car which could be about 7 km far.
The action, which began early in the morning, was not only attended by male workers. Many women workers also participated in the strike and even took turns giving speeches to express their concerns.
“I am one of the employees who, about 4 or 5 months ago, suffered a miscarriage due to bleeding. Initially, at around 7:00 p.m., I went to the clinic to check with the doctor about the bleeding I was experiencing. However, the clinic doctor did not examine me. Only a nurse examined me.” Said a woman worker in her speech, visibly upset.
“The next night, I went back to the clinic because my bleeding was getting worse. Instead of treating me, the clinic doctor got angry with the nurse who was busy trying to find me a vehicle to be rushed to the hospital, because the clinic’s ambulance was being used at the time. Finally, I was rushed to the hospital using another car.” She added.
Prior to the strike, the SEPASI organizer submitted a strike notification letter to the East Kotawaringin police and the East Kotawaringin Manpower and Transmigration Local Office on March 27th, 2025. After the letter was submitted, the union organizers kept receiving phone calls from the police. Even the day before the strike, on April 2nd, 6 police officers came to the plantation and asked to meet with the union leaders. Not only the union leaders, but all members of the union also ended up coming to meet with the police. The police officers then asked the workers to postpone their planned strike, saying that the police were still observing the Eid holiday. However, the workers ignored the request and continued with their action.
The action that took place in front of the PT SPMN company office was heavily monitored by the Cempaga Hulu police, the Parenggean police, and the East Kotawaringin police. After a while, the workers’ representatives were then called to attend a mediation meeting facilitated by the head of the East Kotawaringin Manpower and Transmigration office, Johny Tangkere, and the Cempaga Hulu sub-district head, Gusti Mukafi, as well as the East Kotawaringin police.
The mediation process was tense when they were discussing the workers’ demand to dismiss the clinic doctor. The company insisted on retaining the doctor despite numerous reports of his poor performance. The issue eventually saw a breakthrough when the clinic doctor willingly resigned from the company clinic at the insistence of the workers. In addition to this, the company agreed to fulfill the other demands relating to the improvement of health facilities and services for workers.
Dianto Arifin, chairman of SEPASI, then informed the results of the mediation to the strikers and protesters who did not participate in the mediation process itself. The good news was happily welcomed by the workers.
“What we fought for, what we demanded from the company, we finally achieved. This is not because of the kindness of the company, but because we are strong and united. Thank you to all the workers and their families who have participated in this strike. We will continue to monitor the company to see whether it will actually fulfill its commitments. We will also continue to collectively fight any other policies that could be harmful to workers.” Dianto Arifin explained.
The strike ended on the same day at around 2:35 pm, after all the demands of PT SPMN workers were met.
In a different place, Ismet Inoni, the national coordinator of the Coalition of Oil Palm Workers (KBS) expressed his pride for the workers who had the courage to fight for their rights.
“Salute and respect to all the palm oil plantation workers who have been involved and taken an active role in the strike action. What has been won by the workers is the result of their hard work and perseverance in fighting. The struggle of PT SPMN workers should be followed as an example by other palm oil plantation workers. This proves that organizing and struggling is the most appropriate method to obtain a true victory for palm oil plantation workers.” Ismet Inoni explained.
Original article in Bahasa Indonesia: https://www.dialektikamassa.com/2025/04/mogok-kerja-buruh-pt-spmn-berbuah-manis.html