TUED closed July partnering with Public Services International (PSI) in conducting four Public Pathway workshops. A fifth workshop was organised by Mondiaal FNV (Netherlands Trade Union Confederation). Over 100 Indonesian trade unionists across Jakarta learned about the public pathway in the week prior to the launch of TUED South in the Asia-Pacific region in Bali. This week’s bulletin will look at the Indonesian workshops while next week’s will provide a summary of the TUED South regional meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
For more than a decade, unions in Indonesia have been pursuing a legal strategy to defend the public electricity company PLN (Perusahaan Listrik Negara) from the expansion of predatory power purchase agreements (PPAs) from for-profit coal companies known as independent power producers (IPPs). Pushed by the Asia Development Bank and neoliberal policymakers, this slow-drip privatisation has turned out to be a disaster for PLN, piling on debt while, since 2005, doubling the price of electricity.
Beginning in January 2024, TUED has worked alongside Indonesian energy unions in their effort to keep energy public in a manner consistent with Article 33 of the country’s Constitution that was intended to protect state ownership of vital industries and sectors. Unions in Indonesia are also working together to develop a public pathway alternative to the transition away from coal that will require an end to the IPP system and a new mandate for the utility.
A position paper is being developed that will offer the outlines of the trade union position on energy transition in the Indonesian context.
The following sectors and unions participated in the Jakarta workshops:
Andy Wijaya, Secretary General of PP-IP (Persatuan Pegawai PT PLN Indonesia Power):
“The Public Pathway workshops across Jakarta were a great success. So much that we requested and organised for additional workshops in August. Our goal was for union participants to gain critical knowledge about the fight for public energy and about the Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs). The workshops helped us analyse how the JETP process is being conducted in Indonesia and how we as Indonesian unions can respond with our own demands for a Public Pathway in the energy transition. We are a union of the state-owned company that produces electricity so it is our duty to ensure that energy is provided to the people, whether they can afford it or not. The workshops help us continue to struggle to ensure that privatisation and unbundling are forbidden.”
Indah Budiarti, PSI Southeast Asia Communications & Project Coordinator:
“In the energy sector across the region and in Indonesia, we have seen too many Independent Power Producers use their legally binding Power Purchase Agreements to drain tax-payers’ money for their shareholders. The IPP-PPA model proves to be a disgrace for too many communities. PSI supports the public pathway approach 100%. It’s not just about ownership; it’s also about breaking with the neoliberal “energy for profit” and “privatise to decarbonize” approach that has impeded the energy transition and has left the Global South with more debt and low investment in low-carbon energy alternatives.”
Lala Peñaranda, Latin America and Communications coordinator at TUED:
The workshops in Jakarta set the standard for TUED South workshops moving forward. PPIP’s Andy Wijaya is putting into action the organising spirit of TUED and every union in the network can be inspired by Andy to organise and implement similar workshops in their countries and sectors. The TUED team hopes that Indonesia can act as the base for the Asia-Pacific regional work of TUED South in the years to come. The Jakarta workshops, organised by the Indonesian unions, not only deepened our collective analysis of the energy sector but additionally deepened the foundation for the Indonesian labour movement’s leadership in the region.
Ikhsan Raharjo, Chairperson of SINDIKASI (Media and Creative Industry Workers Trade Union for Democracy), drew connections between journalism and the Public Pathway:
“The recent TUED workshops in Jakarta were an eye opening event and provided Indonesian trade union leaders with a critical analysis on the Just Energy Transition Partnership and its underlying neoliberal agenda, which has never been publicly discussed before. The JETP and its green structural adjustment agenda will definitely undermine basic rights of the Indonesian working class and create more precariousness especially among young workers and deepen the results of the neoliberal agenda imposed by international financial institutions during the financial crisis in 1997. It is critical for independent journalism and the labour movement- including journalism unions- to join hands in fighting green structural adjustment in the energy sector and beyond. We cannot allow the business people and pro-business government to continue to dominate and misinform the public discourse on JETP.”
Teguh Wicaksono of SP PJB (Serikat Pekerja Pembangkat Jawa Bali):
“The workshop activities were very meaningful and we should be proud of our team reflections. This is a trigger for us to prepare regarding making demands, finding solutions, and building alternatives for the energy transition. After returning from Jakarta, we immediately socialised the workshop results and analysis to our union in order to prepare strategic plans related to the Public Pathway approach to the energy transition. Too often we lack the confidence to voice the risks of the energy transition due to the lack of power to influence government policy directly. We are realising that organised demands and public channels are very important as a medium for us to deepen our ideas and build power to put forward our own energy transition policies.”
Adhom Nirwana of SP PLN (Serikat Pekerja PT PLN Persero):
“The workshop helped us exchange ideas, challenges and experiences between workers. For example, to understand why the existence of IPPs threatens energy sovereignty in a country. We also learned about how Mexico and South Africa are being negatively affected by the management of IPPs and the chaos these create in the energy sector. The high price of electrical energy means that not everyone can exercise their right to it. That's what we don't want in our country. It is very important that PLN is owned and governed by the public because electrical energy in Indonesia is a central component of improving the country's economy and conditions for the working class. Public and democratic ownership allows the price of electrical energy to be properly regulated in a way that does not burden the people.
Jaya Darmawan of the independent research institute CELIOS, said:
“The comparison of struggles in other countries, such as Colombia and South Africa were very helpful to understanding why the Public Pathway is crucial for the labour movement in Indonesia. The Public Pathway reaffirms that energy is a public good and should be utilised to the fullest for the public interest, not for the benefit of business or political oligarchies. However, we need to develop a critical analysis of the ongoing presence of false solutions in the energy transition in Indonesia, such as in the case of geothermal projects and CCS/CCUS technology for fossil fuels, particularly coal. I recommend engaging with CELIOS' progressive reports on these issues. We also need more progressive research centres collaborating and coordinating across regions.”
Fandi Setia of PP-IP (Persatuan Pegawai PT PLN Indonesia Power):
“The workshops activity opened up a new horizon and an awareness that we are not alone in fighting privatisation in the energy sector. Many comrades from all around the globe are on the same page as we are in this subject.The result of the Public Pathway elaboration proposal through the last workshop, I think already gives us a clear idea about what to do next in general. Using this concept, we can develop several tactical steps to respond to the JETP in Indonesia.”
Tania Susian Ardani of SP PLN (Serikat Pekerja PT PLN Persero):
“I think workshops like this are very important because not many people understand the alternatives we have nationally and globally for just, low carbon development. We learned about the possibilities of future public companies in the energy transition. TUED South acts as a necessary platform for trade union cooperation to build a common agreement on analysing the current facts, and commit to developing an alternative Public Pathway for the energy system.”
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