Organizers say that [Phillips' crabmeat processing] facility [in Lampung] relies mostly on low-paid female workers organized by the Lampung Foodworkers Federation to shell crabs by hand and prepare the food for shipment to the United States... Over the last four years, the company has resisted labor law reforms being introduced by the government, and has recently stepped up efforts to further cut labor costs with so-called “mini-plants” [according to Hidayat Greenfield, the Asia-Pacific regional secretary of International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Association]... The mini-plants are typically set up in rural areas, and the work of crab picking farmed out to local women on a short-term, piece-work basis. Usually returned to Lampung “on the back of a motorbike,” the crabmeat receives final processing at the Lampung plant before being shipped to the United States... “The system is a threat to the health and well-being of the workers, and to Phillips customers back home [in the United States", said Greenfield]... Labor problems at the Lampung Phillip’s plant really started to escalate about four years ago, Greenfield reports, when union members began agitating to be recognized as full-time workers, rather than as casual workers. Due to labor law reforms under way in Indonesia now, recognition would have allowed the women to qualify for participation in the country’s national health care system. According to Greenfield, Phillips wouldn’t agree, although some of the workers have been permanent employees for 10 years or more.