The footwear and textile and textile product (TPT) industries are part of the manufacturing industry which has been affected by sluggish demand due to the pandemic or due to the weakening global economy. Since the pandemic until now, from these two sub-sectors of the manufacturing industry, factories have started to go out of business, one by one employees have been laid off. The following are several footwear and TPT factories that have been recorded as laying off thousands of employees: PT Panarub Industry Manufacturer of Adidas shoes, PT Panarub Industry, located in Pasar Kemis, Tangerang, has become a hot topic of discussion in recent days, due to accusations of exploitation, discrimination and termination of employment. (PHK) unilaterally by the Indonesian Trade Union Association (GSBI).
When confirmed by Bisnis, Panarub Main Director Budiarto Tjandra dismissed the news. However, in Bisnis records, Budiarto admitted that his party had terminated employment or laid off 1,200 of its employees throughout 2022.
"Due to the decline in orders which was caused by the global situation, PT Panarub had to reduce employees," said Director of PT Panarub Industry Budiarto on Monday (16/1/2023).
Budiarto explained that the company he oversees had 8,600 workers before the storm of layoffs (PHK) hit starting last November 2022. Since November 2022, the number of Panarub workers has continued to decrease, leaving 7,400 employees in January 2023. Budiarto said that his party plans to cut the number of employees to 6,600 employees.
Since November 2022, the number of Panarub workers has continued to decrease, leaving 7,400 employees in January 2023. Budiarto said that his party plans to cut the number of employees to 6,600 employees. However, since 1988 Panarub has focused on producing footwear from Germany, Adidas to then be distributed domestically and abroad.
Overseas, Adidas made by Panarub landed in almost all countries, with the majority sent to the United States and Europe. It is not surprising that Panarub was also affected by the decline in export demand from the United States and Europe when both of them were experiencing economic instability.
Finally, Panarub decided to cut the number of employees. PT Victory Chingluh Indonesia Tetangga Panarub, a shoe manufacturer also located in Tangerang, Banten, namely PT Victory Chingluh Indonesia, admitted that they cut as many as 5,000 workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, the Ching Luh Group Indonesia Dinar Strategy & Communication that occurred was not layoffs, but terminated the contracts of workers who were still on probation. Regarding the layoffs that thousands of workers have experienced, Dinar revealed that this happened in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.
"For 2022, we will not have any layoffs for the 5,000 employees. The number of layoffs for the 5,000 employees will occur in 2020," said Dinar on Friday (13/1/2023).
According to Dinar, the layoffs carried out by shoe manufacturers Nike and Reebok in 2020 were an effort to sustain companies that had been shaken by the Covid-19 pandemic.
"All companies are also affected, right, because they are affected, so because of the impact of the pandemic in 2020 there were indeed layoffs for our employees, which numbered nearly 5,000, but for 2022 there will be no [employee layoffs]," added Dinar.
