Labour NGOs: An Alternative Form of Labour Organizing in Indonesia, 1991-1998

Abstract

Although Indonesia's labour non-government organizations (NGOs) are in many ways unique, they are in fact part of a global surge in non-traditional labour activism, in which international and indigenous labour NGOs have played an important role. This contribution examines the contribution of labour NGOs to the reconstruction of the Indonesian labour movement in the 1990s and its implications for our understanding of the contemporary labour movement more generally. It argues that the Indonesian experience suggests theorists and unionists should broaden their understanding of the labour movement to make room for non-traditional forms of labour movement organizations, such as labour NGOs, that have the potential to (and do) contribute to that movement.