After organizing against gender-based violence and harassment on the factory floor, courageous women workers in Central Java, Indonesia, have negotiated a groundbreaking agreement to implement a union-led gender justice program. Signed in July 2024, the Central Java Agreement for Gender Justice represents a major victory for workers at two garment factories operated by the Korean multinational Ontide. These factories, which employ 6,250 workers, produce US university logo apparel and other branded sportswear for major US brands, including Fanatics, which sources both its own products and, under license, Nike-branded apparel from the factories. Worker leaders from four unions (SPN, SPSI, and KASBI at PT Batang Apparel Indonesia, and SPSI at PT Semarang Garment Indonesia) came together to negotiate this agreement, supported by the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), and Global Labor Justice (GLJ).
In 2021, women workers bravely reported the systematic gendered abuse they faced at work to the WRC, which conducted investigations at both factories. At that time, the factories were under different ownership, and the company was known as Kukdong. The WRC’s in-depth reporting made clear the need for both immediate action to address the situation—and the need for a supply chain agreement to drive deep change at the factories.
The resulting binding agreement establishes a program to create a workplace free from violence and harassment. The agreement incorporates global labor standards on gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) and includes key provisions such as worker-led education and training for all employees, union-appointed shop floor monitors, multi-channel grievance mechanisms, protections against retaliation and for freedom of association, survivor-centered and timely investigations and remedies, global coordination dialogue to exchange information about program implementation and resolve any disputes among the parties, and enforcement by university licensors.
Two Factories, One Pattern of Harassment and Abuse
Women workers reported to the WRC systematic gender-based violence and harassment at the factory, prompting an in-depth investigation. At PT Semarang, women workers reported that a high-ranking manager regularly groped women workers, while male sewing machine mechanics used their control over machine repairs to coerce women into tolerating sexual harassment, including unwanted touching and incessant sexual comments.
As word spread that worker concerns were being taken seriously at PT Semarang, workers at its sister factory, PT Batang, approached the WRC with similar reports. The WRC documented a nearly identical pattern of abuse. Supervisors, managers, and mechanics engaged in both verbal and physical gender-based violence and harassment, emboldened by management’s failure to address previous worker complaints. Women workers told the WRC they feared retaliation for reporting abuse and that many felt their only option was to resign rather than endure the abuse.
Winning Remediation
When the WRC, having thoroughly documented the violations, pressed Fanatics and Ontide to take correct action, both companies moved swiftly to do so. At PT Semarang, Ontide removed the worst offenders from the workplace. Fanatics also worked with factory management to implement a new system for prioritizing machine repairs, eliminating mechanics’ direct contact with sewing operators. Workers who had been coerced into giving money to their supervisor were reimbursed. Ontide and the PT Semarang union, with technical assistance from the WRC, negotiated an agreement to address GBVH at the factory.
At PT Batang, Ontide terminated or disciplined more than 20 harassers. Factory management implemented a machine repair coordination system modeled on the new system at PT Semarang. Workers who had resigned due to harassment and retaliation were offered reinstatement and back pay, and those who had been coerced into making payments to abusive supervisors were reimbursed.
Negotiating a Binding Agreement
Seeing the need for a more systemic solution, the workers and their unions—supported by the WRC—demanded Ontide and Fanatics commit to an enforceable supply chain agreement. AFWA and GLJ joined the talks in 2024, sharing learnings from the Dindigul Agreement and other enforceable supply chain agreements and providing additional support to union partners. The negotiations were led by the four factory-level unions in Indonesia, culminating in the signing of the Central Java Gender Justice Agreement by the unions, the international NGOs, and Ontide in July 2024.
The program draws on best practices from two enforceable supply chain agreements focused on the rights of women garment workers: the 2019 Lesotho Agreement to End Gender-Based Violence and Harassment and the 2022 Dindigul Agreement to Eliminate Gender-Based Violence and Harassment. Like these agreements, it incorporates definitions and best practices from International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 190 on violence and harassment in the world of work. It is enforced through Fanatics’ commitments under its university licensing agreements. Fanatics has provided written affirmation that it will support the program and will hold Ontide accountable for compliance.
“No Longer Afraid.”
The program created by the new Agreement is already well underway, and the impact of the immediate remediation and the program are both palpable in the factories. One woman worker at PT Batang recently told the WRC: “As a sewing operator, I am no longer afraid to report any form of violation or violence in the workplace. The protection and confidentiality provided to every worker who reports, along with protection from retaliation, encourages women workers to be braver and to no longer tolerate violence or harassment in the workplace.”