Yesterday we received the tremendous news that Rio Wijaya has been found not guilty by an Indonesian court after he was assaulted and wrongly charged for attacking his employer Hutchison online last year.
The ITF Dockers family and Rio’s union, the SP JICT, have not wavered one bit throughout this stressful time for Rio and his family. The ITF Dockers Section and our affiliates have given 100% support during his fight for justice.
ITF Dockers’ Section Chair and ITF President Paddy Crumlin has been actively supporting the campaign for Rio’s freedom from the start.
“This is an important and welcomed outcome, but one that we shouldn’t have had to fight so hard for. Being in a union is not a crime. Standing up for yourself, your colleagues and the working class is not a crime. In fact, it is your human and trade union right.”
“We said at the time that the eyes of the international community were on Indonesia to see whether justice and freedom of association would prevail, or if this country had descended into an enforcement arm of anti-union corporations. Indonesia has made the right call. We welcome that, and now look forward to securing the interests of dockers through good faith engagement.”
On hearing news of Brother Rio’s victory, ITF Dockers’ Section Coordinator Enrico Tortolano said:
“This is an important victory that will send shockwaves through any multinational corporation that thinks they can bully dock workers or silence us with their armies of lawyers. Well, they can’t.”
This case has shown that when the Dockers family sticks together through international solidarity, justice can be won for Dockers and the working class.
Multi-nationals need to respect the rights of union members and activists. We want meaningful dialogue, not threats.
Congratulations Brother Rio. #WeAreITF #InternationalSolidarity #ITFDockers
Solidarity forever!
ITF watching Hutchison operations in Panama and Indonesia
