Grievances Dashboard - resolved and action plan completed cases
The information displayed on this page is a summary of the resolved-process and action plan completed grievances cases.
Issues raised:
An employee was injured during a commotion at the plantation. The ensuing medical condition from the injury, rendered him unable to work. The complaint was made to the RSPO to enable him to enlist the help of the company in securing insuring benefits for his injuries.
Actions taken:
March 2013 : The company has acknowledged the complaint and engaged in bilateral negotiations with the complainant. An amicable solution was reached and the company assisted the complainant in securing the necessary insurance benefits.
May 2013 : Case closed by the RSPO Complaints Panel on 23 May 2013
Issues raised:
Fraudulent land rights acquisition, where about 23ha of land belonging to a local villager were bought by PT AKL from unlawful owners (relatives usurping his land rights).
Actions taken:
- November 2017: Initial communication received from Sawit Watch
- December 2017: Internal verification of the grievances.
- February 2018: Sawit Watch enter the company grievance procedure.
- April 2018: meeting with the aggrieved landowner, facilitated by Sawit Watch; agreed to continue working on amicable solution between the landowner, his relatives and the company.
- 19 April 2019: physical meeting with Sawit Watch and a representative of 11.11.11. All the legal documents were exposed to SW to show that all acquisition was legal.
- 13 August 2019: Physical meeting with Sawit Watch, Free labor representative, and complainant of land acquisition. Following years of meetings and engagement, no satisfactory solution was found. All parties agreed to take present the case to legal authorities to solve the issue. Therefore, the case is now out of SIPEF grievance process and will follow the legal process. Ref (19.08.13-AKL)
Issues raised:
Issues of work safety for free labor employed by company contractors, by lack of appropriate training and availability of protective equipment.
Actions taken:
- November 2017: Initial communication received from Sawit Watch
- February 2018: Sawit Watch enter the company grievance procedure.
- December 2017: Internal verification of the grievances, identification of root causes for the issues on work safety and implementation of corrective actions (availability of PPE, training programs for permanent and free labor stricter supervision of contractors).
- February 2018: Sawit Watch enter the company grievance procedure.
- July 2018: scheduled annual medical check of high-risk workers (which includes those working with pesticides), including free labor.
Health and safety system have been developed, based on training, audits and continuous improvement. Management of the SIPEF safety systems is ongoing and consistent with Group standards.
Issues raised:
The complainant brought forward the issue of fraudulent land title to RSPO. The complainant claimed that his land was fraudulently sold by his cousin to PT Agro Muara Rupit, a subsidiary of SIPEF.
Actions taken:
August 2017 : aknowledgement and verification of issues raised, followed by clarification letter to RSPO on 28 August 2017, showing compliant land-rights acquisition process for the land in question.
Complainant declined to enter the company grievance process.
September 2017 : shared relevent information with RSPO for review by RSPO Complaints Panel.
April 2018 : information from RSPO Complaints Panel that case is pending, as complainant is not supplying requested information.
May 2018 : RSPO Complaints Panel information that the case is pending issuance of closing letter.
19 September 2018 : the RSPO Complaints Panel issues the closing letter for this complaint.
Issues raised:
Allegations of workers’ rights violations including:
- The daily casual workers are paid below the minimum wage set out by the Musi Rawas District Government;
- The daily casual workers are not protected and no remedy available for work accidents;
- The daily casual workers are not equipped with personal protection equipment [PPE] and are not equipped with working tools;
- The daily casual workers did not receive festive allowance in accordance with the regulation;
- The daily casual workers, who are hired through the third party, do not get a pay slip. The amount written in the payment receipt is without formal stamp and without the name of the party who rendered the payment.
Actions taken:
- A grievance linked to Company operations at PT AKL was filed in November 2017;
- PT AKL is a new development area, which has gone through the RSPO New Planting Procedure but is not yet RSPO certified, due to the process of issuing an HGU not yet being completed. As required by RSPO, SIPEF has proceeded following the principles of Free, Prior and Informed Consent;
- The original grievances were initiated in 2017 by 11.11.11 (Belgium-based), with local representative NGO Sawit Watch as the grievance raiser. Over the years, SIPEF has worked to address these grievances and met with Sawit Watch several times to update on progress. Two of the original three grievances were “closed” with the issue related to labour which was a topic for the engagement with grievance parties, Sawit Watch representing the local grievance raiser labor union Serikat Buruh Sawit Sejatehara (SBSS);
- In early 2020, Transnational Palm Oil Labour Solidarity (TPOLS) also engaged on this grievance reutilizing the allegations originally raised. Many attempts have been made to engage with TPOLS on the matters and to follow up on the details. TPOLS didn’t engage nor did they provide any details on matters raised. Although the original grievance raisers followed up on the engagement and raised a complaint with the RSPO;
In March 2021 Sawit Watch and SBSS raised the complaint with the Complaints Panel of the RSPO; - The RSPO asked both parties if they would be willing to go through a mediation process under the Dispute Facility of the RSPO. Both parties agreed to start these proceedings and in August 2021 parties agreed upon a mediator;
- The mediation focused the grievances raised which were related to recruitment process and part-time workers, minimum wages, payment of bonus and payment slips and PPE;
- From the 12th of October until the 17th of December 2021 virtual meetings took place to discuss the grievance, facilitated by the mediator. Face to Face meetings took place in March 2022. One at PT AKL and one in Bogor;
- On the 11th of May 2022 the mediation resulted in an signed agreement, addressing outstanding matters and parties agreed on finalisation of the mediation and closure of the grievance.
Attachment
Read more background on this.pdfIssues raised:
Allegations that, between May and October 2020, a total of 267 hectares of forest were cleared in the PT Agro Muara Rupit (West Estate) concession, without completing an Integrated HCV-HCSA assessment, including peer review and thus in contravention of SIPEF’s NDPE commitment.
Actions taken:
- January 20, 2021 - Information was provided to prove that this is not the case.
- March 8, 2021 - HCSA confirmed that the peer review for the HCS report for AMR 1&2 has been completed.
Based on this, our initial response already provided to stakeholders Ref (21.01.12-AMR) has been revised and can now be accessed at the below link. Ref (21.04.21-AMR).
The present file is therefore considered closed.
Issues raised:
- Environmental Impact due to Smallholder Fresh Fruit Bunches left on Smallholder Blocks in Q1 2019:
- Environmental Impact by Smallholder FFB decomposing on Smallholder blocks
- Allegation of impacting watercourses and air quality
Actions taken:
- May 25th 2021: The first initial communication and report received from Soi Affected Area Representatives
- June 1st 2021: Responded to the Stakeholder with the request for engagement to understand perspective of the Representative (see background statement at the link below)
- July 6th 2021: Representative sent a reply with allegation, claim and a report (see background statement at the link below)
- July 9th 2021: Email correspondence between HOPL team and Representative to arrange for a meeting to understand perspective.
- July 15th 2021: HOPL replied by letter to Representative requesting to follow process
- July 15th 2021: HOPL will follow up on process by proceeding to review matters with all involved Stakeholders (including Smallholders in Soi area and Conservation and Environment Protection Authority).
- Second half of 2021: HOPL engaged with its stakeholders and relevant authorities to review matters indicated.
- January 6th 2022: HOPL received the information from the relevant Government Authorities that matters raised are not substantiated by evidence.
- February 17th 2022: HOPL is closing the grievance case.