Slide 1

INTRODUCTION

Agricultural products, especially in the tobacco agricultural sector, are

one of the strategic sectors that make a major contribution to the economy. In
addition to contributing to state revenue, this sector also strengthens
employment. The majority of workers in the tobacco farming sector are
dominated by women and underage workers, because these workers are
considered more tenacious and agile, most of whom are young to middle-aged
and the majority of workers in the tobacco farming sector have low education.
The purpose of the study was to determine the factors that influence the
ignorance of tobacco industry players on the health and safety of women and
underage workers; knowing the problems that arise due to the neglect of
tobacco industry players towards women and underage workers; analyze the
awareness of tobacco industry players in fulfilling the rights of women and
underage workers in the tobacco farming sector; analyze the protection and
supervision provided by the government through the Department of Manpower
to women and underage workers in the tobacco farming sector.
Slide 2
DISCUSSION I

I. Women and Underage Workers in Tobacco Farming

These economic conditions have resulted in women and underage

workers helping their husbands not only in the harvesting process, but even in
the planting and fertilizing process. Women and underage workers are great
potential that can be utilized for the tobacco production process in tobacco
fields in several areas. This study focuses more on the point of view of
protecting women and underage workers. The laws and regulations prohibit the
employment of children as workers, but there are still many underage workers
employed by farmers from planting to harvesting until drying tobacco in the
private warehouses of the company partners' tobacco.
Research that has been done so far focuses more on welfare, in this case
workers' income. The occurrence of income differences between female
workers; underage workers and adult male workers, as well as ensuring the
rights of workers. There are also those who only specifically discuss the rights
that should be obtained, especially for women workers.

SLIDE 3
A. Protection of Women and Underage Workers in Tobacco Farming
The company believes that women and underage workers are more
diligent, and that because of their economic circumstances, they can
be paid less. Of these reasons, the basic reasons that cause women and
underage workers to become workers in tobacco fields are economic
demands, expensive education, and weak labor legislation. The low
level of parental education also makes women and underage workers
worse off in the tobacco farming sector.
1. Legal Regulations on the Operational System, Procedures for the
Safety and Health of Women and Underage Workers.
The phenomenon of women and underage workers appears in both rural
and urban areas, but is mostly found in rural areas with scattered and hidden
characteristics that are far from being supervised by the Department of
Manpower, which in this case acts as the government's hand to supervise and
protect women and underage workers. Women and underage workers are under
pressure between tobacco entrepreneurs who demand them to be able to work
faster than adult male workers, this has resulted in companies ignoring Standard
Operating Procedures (SOP) that should be applied to workers in tobacco fields
during the harvest season.
The safety and health of workers, especially women and underage
workers, is the main task that must be given by a corporation. Especially in this
case, the tobacco industry players to each of its workers, because women and
underage workers in the tobacco industry are very valuable assets and are an
important element in the production process. Protection of women and underage
workers in the tobacco farming sector involves several aspects, including one of
the highlights is health and safety insurance. However, in reality the protection
of safety and health is often neglected, especially by the tobacco industry
players who tend to only seek maximum profit.

SLIDE 4

B. The Role of the Government in the Protection of Women and

Underage Workers.
Specifically, the government's control over the tobacco industry is linked
to its impact on economic and social rights, especially those related to safety,
namely the right to health and the right to social security. The goal is to show a
growing push back to the labor aspect as the country collects a growing tobacco
collection and tax rate.

Women and underage workers are in dire need of the safety guarantees
provided by employers. Workers must comply with the conditions offered by
the entrepreneur, starting from the number of production targets and the quality
requirements of the products produced in order to believe that the owner of
capital only pays his employees less than the value of the profits they get.

SLIDE 5

1. Legal Protection of Women and Underage Workers

The protection of women and underage workers in the tobacco farming
sector entails several aspects, including one of the aspects that is the focus of
this research is the guarantee of safety and health, which is often neglected,
particularly by tobacco industry players who seek maximum profit. Human
rights, especially children's rights must also be upheld as Article 64 of Law
Number 39 of 1999 concerning Human Rights which reads: "every child has the
right to get protection from economic exploitation activities and any work that
endangers himself so that it can interfere with education, physical, moral, social
life and mental and spiritual health”. By looking at the laws and regulations in
such a clear and tangible way, women and underage workers should get more
attention because of their condition.

SLIDE 6
DISCUSSION II
Women and underage workers in the tobacco farming sector have the
potential to be exposed to risks or adverse effects on their health in the short and
long term, one of which is "Green Tobacco Sickness". This disease is caused by
exposure to nicotine contained in tobacco leaves during the harvesting process,
fertilization process, or during the tobacco processing process. This
phenomenon occurs due to absorption through the skin. Nicotine is derived
from tobacco leaves which are absorbed through the skin surface of women
workers and underage workers who pick and process tobacco leaves. Tobacco
leaf contact with the skin occurs on the hands, arms, thighs, and backs of
women and underage workers who are processing and close to the tobacco
plant.
 A. Symptoms and Adverse Effects of Green Tobacco Sickness
Symptoms caused by Green Tobacco Sickness are pale, weak, vomiting,
fast heart rate, excessive sweating, shortness of breath, and cramps in the
stomach. As for the fertilization process, it will be very dangerous if it is
carried out by women or underage workers. In this case, if the female worker
is pregnant, what happens is that the baby is at great risk of being born in a
disabled condition due to damage to the glands that produce hormones that
control body activities and problems will arise in the birth of the baby or in
the reproduction of the pregnant woman.
Counseling on the procedures for the use of such personal protective
equipment along with the steps is also needed to keep workers in good and
healthy condition, such as the use of masks, long sleeves, aprons, rubber boats,
hats, and safety glasses for eye protection. It can be seen that if personal
protective equipment is not used properly and correctly, it can have direct
effects on women and underage workers, such as burning mouth, throat and
stomach, burning sensation in the respiratory system that makes breathing
difficult, eye irritation, and itchy, rash, crusty, or discolored skin on the skin.

SLIDE 7

1. Prevention of Green Tobacco Sickness.

Employers should provide workers with information and training about nicotine
hazards, GTS prevention, and appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE)
before letting the workers handle tobacco leaves. Employers should provide
workers with effective training in a language and vocabulary that workers can
understand. Employers should: Provide training to each worker on how to use
PPE. Training should include information about how clothing can be used as
PPE and how some clothing may no longer provide adequate protection if it
becomes wet; Train workers to recognize GTS signs and symptoms and to alert
supervisors if they develop symptoms or notice any other workers exhibiting
symptoms; Train supervisors to ensure that any worker with GTS symptoms
immediately drinks water and rests in the shade, in addition to receiving
medical attention if necessary. Employers should also provide these
recommended practices and other applicable information to workers and
encourage them to share it with healthcare providers to avoid misdiagnosis if
symptoms occur. Nicotine poisoning, heat-related illnesses and pesticide
poisoning share similar symptoms. When seeking medical care, it is important
to give doctors and other medical staff complete information about the patients’
job activities and the crops they work with, so that patients receive the correct
treatment.
Increasing the role of farmer group leaders also has an effect on
increasing knowledge and attitudes of tobacco leaf pickers about 'Green
Tobacco Sickness' by socializing before and after work and increasing the role
of health workers in preventing Green Tobacco Sickness for the benefit of
tobacco plantations. It is recommended to hold regular briefings once a week for
tobacco leaf pickers about the importance of occupational health, especially for
women and underage workers, which in this case relates to ways to prevent the
occurrence of Green Tobacco Sickness. This can be done by maximizing the
health workers in the community health center to further activate the
Occupational Health Effort Post program in the community health center to
carry out their role in providing health information and preventing work-related
accidents as an occupational health unit. In other cases, it can conduct a more
in-depth risk factor analysis related to the symptoms of Green Tobacco Sickness
and perform blood and urine tests to determine the level of nicotine content in
the body of tobacco leaf pickers so that more in-depth efforts can be made in
dealing with Green Tobacco Sickness.
SLIDE 8
CONCLUSION
Work in the tobacco industry to some extent carries potential risks for women
and underage workers, given the complex factors behind the high prevalence of
women and underage workers in the tobacco farming sector, which describes
the general condition of women and underage workers and the lack of personal
protective equipment that has the potential to endanger the women and
underage workers involved in this work. Therefore, we recommend the
improvement of national policies. In improving national policies which in this
case are related to employment policies, especially the protection of women and
underage workers in the tobacco sector, the main and most important thing is
the need for the government to strengthen supervision of tobacco industry
players by paying attention to health, safety and increasing resources to
strengthen supporting factors. This can be achieved by making operational
supervision guidelines for women and underage workers in the tobacco industry
sector. This should be done with concrete steps including the roles and
responsibilities of each institution which in this case is carried out by the
Department of Manpower.
 The strengthening of existing regulations should be accompanied by
stronger law enforcement and also more intense advocacy to be able to change
the habits or norms that have been running in the community so that they
become the attention of industry players who have been sidelined. In this case,
the government's efforts through the Department of Manpower to protect the
rights of women and underage workers must be aligned with the tobacco
industry players by periodically conducting counseling or socialization of the
dangers of substances contained in tobacco leaves and pesticide fertilizers,
which so far have not been noticed by the tobacco industry players or the
women and underage workers themselves.