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PT Sepatu Bata TBK
PT Sepatu Bata TBK is a union
shop located in Jakarta, Indonesia and is affiliated with Bata International,
the second largest shoemaker in the world. Bata was a social enterprise
before the word was coined. Back in the 1930s, in Czechoslovakia,
old man Bata was one of the few industrialists in middle Europe that
considered independent trade unions to be a reasonable alternative
to Bolsheviks. Most thought the Nazis were a reasonable alternative
to Bolsheviks. So when Hitler rolled into Prague in 1938, the Bata
factory was promptly confiscated. The Bata family fled to Canada and
rebuilt the company in Toronto from scratch.
Bata has deteriorated a bit over the last two decades, due to the
relentless race to the bottom, but most of their factories are still
unionized and a significant cut above the rest. One of our objectives
is to help Bata return to its founder's roots by proving that the
march to the top can be just as profitable as the alternative. These
workers produce all of our footwear products.
You can find out further info about the wages/benefits of the Bata
workers and a recent audit of the Bata factory in the links below.
Please note that many of these documents are a work-in-progress as
events and actions continue to unfold. We will post revisions of each
document on this page as needed (page
last updated September 7, 2006).
The
photos below and to the left are from Bata's factory floor.
*
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