Stéphane Maminindriana* A Journey of Rethinking Safety Regimes For several years, I worked in the field of Safety Management. I believed in the role, in the systems I upheld, and in the importance of making workplaces safer. My days were filled with audits,...
Creeping in Silence: Summer Postcard with Love
It has been six months since we distributed the postcard at the International Just Transition Conference in November 2023, now this postcard is ready to be delivered to you through this website. These postcards will bring you to TPOLS research findings on safety and...
Beyond Health and Safety: The Struggle of the Alienated Body and the Emergence of New Forms of Worker Organization on Palm Oil Plantation
Since the colonial era, health has been an integral part of labor control, as seen on palm oil plantations. Today, these agri-capitalist factories, operating in multinational contexts, continue to benefit from this mechanism of control, degrading workers’ bodies...
Beyond the Red Circle: Notes on a Palm Oil Plantation Union Meeting in Indonesia
In September last year, I attended a group discussion with workers organised by a branch of SERBUK (People’s Labour Union) at a palm oil plantation company in the Sambas Regency of West Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. It was the first gathering of union members...
Precarious Working Conditions on Plantation Owned by Belgian Company SIPEF
After years of working for the palm oil plantation PT. Agro Kati Lama (AKL), Andi (36 years) was suddenly dismissed by the company management in December last year. When he was recruited, Andi worked as a daily casual worker (Buruh Harian Lepas/BHL), a work status...
Recent Post
Sambas Declaration for Just Transition in the Palm Oil Industry
Introduction On 28-29th November 2023, an international conference on “Just Transition in the Palm Oil Industry” was held in Sambas, West Kalimantan in Indonesia. The conference was attended by 140 participants, mainly from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia,...
Strategy Workshop: A Just Transition in the Palm Oil Industry
How can we achieve a just transition in the palm oil industry? Currently, Indonesia is burning. Besides the climate crisis, a major cause is the palm oil industry with its monocultures, deforestation, land grabbing and burning of peat grounds. While the 16...
MONOCULTURE MYTH
What would our future look like when our presence is rooted in monoculture? What would climate governance look like under the supremacy of monoculture? Indonesians, from commoners, bureaucrats, elites, to even those who are afflicted by monocrop economy have this...
Syngenta: a Poisoner Without Borders
Syngenta is an agrochemical firm, headquartered in Switzerland and owned by the Chinese conglomerate ChemChina since 2017. Together with Bayer-Monsanto, BASF and Corteva, these four companies dominate the market [1] for pesticides [2], commercial seeds, and...
More Than Just Natural Disasters: TPOLS Network Declares Forest and Land Fires an Ecological Crime and Destruction
Transnational Palm and Oil Labour Solidarity (TPOLS) Network is urging the Indonesian government to immediately declare the forest and land fires (Karhutla) in Kalimantan and Sumatra a national disaster and to end impunity for corporations damaging the environment....
Joint Press Release: WILDFIRES, FLOODS, AND DROUGHTS
WILDFIRES, FLOODS, AND DROUGHTS: Impacts of Corporate Crime, State Denial, and Labor Safety Neglect in Kalimantan and Sumatra Bogor, September 2, 2026 – The wildfires that have once again struck several regions in Kalimantan and Sumatra are not merely seasonal...



