On-linked Indonesian factory reinstates fired union workers after pressure

PT YNI, the Indonesian subcontractor linked to On, reinstated 64 dismissed union members and compensated them in April after months of pressure from workers, Public Eye and the Clean Clothes Campaign. The outcome was unusual in a sector where labor disputes often disappear into subcontracting layers, but it still left 48 fired workers outside the settlement.

The dismissals had come about a year earlier, after union members pushed for better working conditions at the factory in Cirebon, a remote industrial town about four hours east of Jakarta. Public Eye said the campaign was built with the affected workers, and that combination of worker organizing and NGO pressure became the central force in the case. A local court then dismissed the factory’s complaint over an alleged unlawful strike on January 7, 2026, and management met the union on January 16, apologized and promised to reinstate the remaining dismissed workers.

On said it was informed of the allegations by Public Eye in November 2025 and immediately paused new production at the factory until remediation was shown. The company later said the April reinstatements came after it worked with NGOs to resolve the dispute. It also said the issue involved PT YNI, a Tier 2 factory, and that an independent audit in October 2025 had failed to uncover the abuses. That sequence makes the enforcement picture plain: the audit missed the problem, while the freeze on new production, the court outcome, and sustained pressure from labor groups created the leverage that mattered.

The case also exposed how far the supply chain still sits from the soft, high-performance language brands like to use about responsibility. Public Eye said the statutory monthly minimum wage in Cirebon was just under 130 Swiss francs, and that workers were still being paid only the legal minimum, not a living wage. On had pledged to ensure that by the end of 2025 all workers at direct suppliers would be paid a living wage, yet Public Eye said that goal had not been met in the Indonesian supply chain. On’s 2024 Impact Progress Report said it was collecting wage data annually across manufacturing locations and aiming for Global Living Wage Coalition living wages in all Tier 1 facilities by 2025; its 2025 report said it was still advancing living wages and social conditions.

Public Eye said Indonesia has become the sports-shoe industry’s second most important production hub after Vietnam, and that On has sourced running shoes from factories in Java since 2023. That makes the PT YNI case more than a single remediation: it is a rare, partial proof that worker organizing, NGO pressure and brand leverage can force a result, even if 48 workers were still left waiting.