The complainants also raise doubts over the RSPO’s own credibility in detecting and responding to labor violations on member plantations — not the first time this has been called into question.
“It is time for the RSPO to act in the interest of palm oil workers. The evidence is clear: Indofood is systematically violating the fundamental rights of workers on its palm oil plantations,” OPPUK director Herwin Nasution said in a statement.
Indofood, which operates a joint venture with global snack food brand PepsiCo, is the largest private oil palm plantation company in Indonesia that has yet to adopt a commitment to use only responsibly produced palm oil.
The complaint comes four months after the NGOs released the results of an investigation into abuses on two Indofood plantations in North Sumatra.
Their report, The Human Cost of Conflict Palm Oil, included detailed allegations of child labor, exposure to hazardous chemicals, a reliance on temporary workers, below minimum-wage payments and the suppression of independent unions.
In response to the accusations, an assessment was conducted by the RSPO’s accreditation body, Accreditation Services International (ASI), on a third Indofood operation, the Gunung Mas palm oil mill and supply base in North Sumatra.
ASI’s report, released last month, found similarly widespread violations of Indonesian labor law and evidence of unsafe practices. Several of the violations had already been identified in a previous audit, but had never been addressed.
In total, Indofood has violated more than 20 Indonesian labor laws, according to the complaint filed this week, which also highlights violations of the RSPO Code of Conduct requirement that members “commit to open and transparent engagement with interested parties and actively seek resolution of conflict”.
Indofood’s head of public relations, Stefanus Indrayana, told Mongabay he was out of the office and unable to provide comment. Other Indofood representatives did not respond to questions about the RSPO complaint.
The company previously said the allegations were unsubstantiated. In a June interview with Indonesian newspaper The Jakarta Post, Indofood director Franciscus Welirang responded to claims that children as young as 12 were working on the plantations.
“Plantations in Indonesia are usually close to villages and thus there’s a plantation culture based on targets. It’s standard for families to ask for help from their children,” he said.