Discrimination Against Palm Oil Threatens Farmers and Workers

The European Union’s policy that discriminates palm oil puts oil palm farmers and workers on brink of disaster. If the EU phases out palm oil-based biofuel by 2030, million of workers and farmers will be affected and potentially lose their livelihoods. Such a worst-case scenario was one of the points came out of the discussion organized by Palm Oil Journalists Forum (FJS) in Koffee Konco, Epiwalk Jakarta, Tuesday (23/4/2019). The discussion presented speakers had the presence of several speakers: Head of Labor Division of the Indonesian Palm Oil Association (Gapki) Sumarjono Saragih, Executive Secretary of the Indonesian Palm Oil Labor Union Network (Japbusi) Nursanna Marpaung, and Irham Ali Saifuddin, a Programme Officer at ILO in Indonesia and Timor Leste. Attendees at the event moderated by Head of Communication Division of Gapki Tofan Mahdi included Secretary General of Gapki Kanya Lakshmi Sidarta, Chairman of Indonesian Oleochemical Association (Apolin) Rapolo Hutabarat, Corporate Secretary of the Indonesia Oil Palm Plantation Fund Management Agency (BPDPKS) Achmad Maulizal Sutawijaya, and representatives from BPJS Ketenagakerjaan. “We support government to combat discrimination against palm oil in Europe. The government must strongly oppose the discriminatory practices as million workers make a living from palm oil. Japbusi has 2 million members who work in palm oil industry,” Nursanna Marpaung said as quoted by Investor Daily. Sumarjono Saragih revealed that there are at least six wrongful allegations against palm oil industry. They are labor status, dialogue between firms and workers, safety and health insurance, child labor, low wages, and weak government control. “We are suffering from allegations on environmental issues as well as child labor. If it is voiced over and over, it will have a disastrous impact on the industry,” he said. Meanwhile, Irham Ali Saifudin spoke about the strategy to raise public awareness on palm oil. He said that approximately 16 million workers will be affected by the EU’s policy. For that reason, it is deemed necessary to develop a strategy to strengthen positive aspect of palm oil. At the same time, the industry must show good will to improve good plantation governance. ***