Friday, 28 July 2006 –, Security workers for British company Securicor Indonesia declared victory today after a 15-month long strike and an outpouring of community and international support, including actions in the company's home nation, pressured the multinational firm to respect human rights in Indonesia.

“The company tried to ignore our Parliament, our Supreme Court, the voices of their own workers and thousands of supporters around the world, but it wasn’t a strategy it could maintain,” said Ferry Nelson, General Secretary of the Securicor Indonesia Labor Union, an affiliate of ASPEK Indonesia (Association of Indonesian Labor Unions). “We’ve forced them to respect human rights in Indonesia.”

The dispute over whether Securicor respected its workers human rights stemmed from the international merger between Group 4 Falck and Securicor. On April 25, 2005, about 500 security guards engaged in a legal strike to demand clarity from the company over whether they would remain permanent employees with the same rights following the merger. The workers maintained that if they were being transferred to a new company they were due severance pay under Indonesian law. Rather than pay severance or guarantee the workers that their terms of employment would remain the same, the company fired 238 striking workers in the capitol, Jakarta, and an additional 24 in Surabaya. The firings were followed by a campaign of harassment and intimidation using outdated Indonesian laws that criminalize behaviors allowed in most democracies. Since the strike began, Securicor Indonesia has lost guarding contracts at Nestle, Mandarin Oriental Jakarta Hotel, and InterContinental MidPlaza Jakarta Hotel—and four cash services contracts.

The Securicor Indonesia Labor Union reports that Securicor Indonesia has agreed to pay severance plus 11 months of back pay to the fired workers in Jakarta. The union also reports that criminal charges brought against the union president and several union members have been dropped. Each worker will receive twice the PMTK, or legally guaranteed minimum severance, plus 11 months of back pay. Payment began today.

“For over a year, we have struggled and gone without paychecks, been unable to feed our families,” said Securicor Indonesia security officer Yachya. “Now we can make a new start.”

“It’s a shame that it took 15 months of struggle by the workers and privation for their families to get Securicor to follow Indonesian law,” said Stephen Lerner, Director of Property Services for the Service Employees International Union. “It’s time Group 4 Securicor listened to calls for it to respect human rights in India, Uganda, Kenya and the US. Its human rights record will remain in question so long as it as it continues to maintain one standard in England and a different standard for the rest of the world.”

Human rights groups around the globe have vowed to continue efforts to raise standards at Group 4 Securicor as it prepares for a possible bid to guard the 2012 Olympics in London.

See www.focusongroup4securicor.com for more information.