Around 111 garment export- oriented factories under the Better Work Indonesia (BWI) programme, employing more than 128,000 workers, have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The management’s main concern is business continuity; while workers are concerned about wages and benefits, their own jobs and the health and safety situation in the workplace.

Understanding the importance of these issues, the BWI programme has developed two informative infographic videos about wages and prevention of termination of employment amidst the pandemic and specific guides on OSH parameters specifically for of the “’new normal”’ era in the workplace . These are part of a campaign to promote social dialogue, workplace cooperation and OSH implementation.

One of the motion graphics videos focused on avoiding no work no pay while the other emphasized on ways to prevent termination – two practices that widely happened in the current condition. Both infographic videos and guides combined various animations that engagingly explain important employment issues during the challenging times.

 

These videos and guides highlight relevant regulations issued by the Ministry of Manpower to support business continuity during the pandemic while respecting rights and safety and health at work. These videos also promote the importance of social dialogue between employers and workers to prevent industrial disputes and to find win-win solutions for both parties.

Social media campaign for garment industry

To engage as many as workers and even wider stakeholders, the ILO’s BWI programme has conducted a series of social media engagements through live Instagram (IG) by presenting relevant resource persons such as the representative of the Ministry of Manpower, field experts and representative from factories. This weekly interaction presents various topic not only those that directly related to their working condition but also well-being such as financial literacy, parenting and home-schooling during the pandemic.

These initiatives have received good live interaction and responses from garment factories. More than 200 people have logged in and participated in the IG life sessions that discussed government’s new arrangement of annual festive bonus (THR) during pandemic situation, managing financial and application of new normal in the workplace.

Suhendra Febriano, a worker at PT. Shoetown Ligung Indonesia, appreciated the social media campaign as the informational materials have provided clarity on certain issues such as wages and benefits as well as OSH, subjects that were crucial and relevant in the time of pandemic. “This engagement also allows us to have live interaction with reliable resource persons. Moreover, its direct message feature also delivers fast response if we have several concerns on labour norm and OSH implementation,” he told.

A similar appreciation was given by the factory management. D. Wildan Fauzie, ST, HR Manager of PT Leetex Garment Indonesia, said the social media campaign was an effective tool to establish awareness on topics related to labour norm, social dialogue and OSH at the workplace and has scaled up the interaction between factories and workers. “The factory has been seeing the benefits of the campaign as all the information conveyed in simple language with concrete examples that are easier to understand,” he stated.