High level leaders from unions in Australia (AWU and CFMEU), the Netherlands (FNV), North America (USW) and South Africa (NUM) have completed an 8-11 August, 2017 Mission to Indonesia concerning mass firings of striking workers by PT Freeport and PT Smelting. The Mission was organized by IndustriALL Global Union, representing 50 million members in 140 countries - including 11 affiliated unions in Indonesia - to express solidarity with the affected workers, investigate the mass firings, and offer assistance to the involved parties to seek fair resolutions of the disputes…

The Mission agrees with the Indonesian National Commission on Human Rights that PT Freeport’s actions constitute grave human rights violations. People fired for exercising their fundamental rights as workers are now losing their basic human rights, including access – for themselves, their spouses and their children – to food, housing, education and basic healthcare…

The Mission concludes that the fundamental source of both disputes, and of the resulting human suffering and rights violations, is the decision by PT Freeport and PT Smelting to engage in conflict with the unions that represent their workers, rather than negotiate with them. We urge both companies to instead choose the path of negotiation, which ultimately will serve the interests of all their stakeholders...