Blog: Press Releases Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food continues efforts to improve worker experience in palm oil operations nationwide

JAKARTA -14 August 2018 – Over the last two years, Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food has undertaken proactive assessments of its own and third party supplier company operations compliance with labour commitments in the GAR Social and Environmental Policy or GSEP.

As a result of these assessments, undertaken by a number of independent expert organisations, Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food has identified areas for continued improvement in its own and especially small and medium supplier operations to provide better employment opportunities for workers in palm oil.

The report released today by AMRC and Sawit Watch is in line with our own findings and Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food appreciates constructive feedback. As part of our continuous improvement we are addressing the following issues: – Casual workers – Use of Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE) – Equal opportunities for women

However AMRC and Sawit Watch fail to outline the steps the company already has in place in response to the assessments completed which included: – November 2016: Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) assessment on labour management system and practices in PT Tapian Nadenggan (one of two PTs covered in the AMRC report – July-August 2017: Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food, Nestlé, the Danish Institute of Human Rights and TFT conducted labour assessment of four Sinar Mas Agribusines and Food’s supplier mills

Each of these reports is available in full or in summary on the company’s sustainability dashboard.

Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food is bound to the more than 20 commitments in relation to work environment and industrial relations, in line with Indonesian labour regulations, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, and the UN Guidelines on Business and Human Rights, that are included in the GSEP.

A snap shot of the efforts already underway to address these common issues in the coming months and years, include: – Progressively converting our daily workers to permanent status according to their skills and qualifications. This will give them more stable employment conditions and better career development opportunities o From late November 2017 until June 2018 we have converted more than 1,300 daily workers to permanent staff for our operations at PT Tapian Nadenggan and PT Mitra Karya Agroindo – Encourage more women’s participation in the workplace – Refreshment training on Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) to our safety officers andrefinement of OHS Standard Operating Procedures.

People are at the heart of the palm oil industry. The labour intensive nature of the palm oil sector makes it important to consider worker welfare and human rights as part of our sustainability efforts. To be successful for future generations we must ensure that workers are treated well and have positive employment opportunities. This remains our commitment.

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More information can be found in our labour factsheet: Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food’s GSEP commitment to Work Environment and Industrial Relations in practice

About Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food

Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food, operating as part of Golden Agri-Resources (GAR), is a leading global agribusiness based on palm oil production, with a planted area of more than 500,345 hectares (including plasma smallholders) as at 31 March 2018. The company has an integrated operation producing food made from raw vegetable oils.

Sinar Mas Agribusiness and Food is focused on sustainable palm oil production. In Indonesia, its primary activities include cultivating and harvesting of oil palm trees; processing of fresh fruit bunch into crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel; merchandising and refining CPO into value added products such as cooking oil, margarine, shortening and biodiesel; as well as trading of palm oil products worldwide. It also has operations in China and India including a deep-sea port, oilseeds crushing plants, production capabilities for refined edible oil products as well as other food products such as noodles.

Its parent company, GAR was founded in 1996 and listed on the Singapore Exchange in 1999 with a market capitalisation of US$3.4 billion as at 31 March 2018. Flambo International Limited, an investment company, is currently GAR’s largest shareholder, with a 50.35 percent stake. GAR has several subsidiaries, including PT SMART Tbk which was listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in 1992. For more information about our company, visit www.goldenagri.com.sg