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1988 AAFLI-assisted publication links Korean-run shoe factories and logging
operations-- both have bad labor records
1989 articles appear in Indonesian press about Tae Hwa and Pratama Abadi wage protests
1989 AAFLI/Indo gets Human Rights grant from AID to do minimum wage compliance survey -- Nike-producing shoe factories are among worst violators
1990 Tae Hwa strike
1990 Rise of "Solidarity" trade union, crushed by Indonesian authorities after less than a year -- organized huge strike at tire factory and protest at Jakarta office of UN (ILO)
1990 Sung Hwa protests (related to workers killed in overcrowded company bus)
1991 Strike at HASI after fire that kills two
1991 Strike at Pratama Abadi
1991 AAFLl-supported research results in three-day expose of shoe factories in Media Indonesia
l 991Korean businessmaen repeatedly warned in newspaper (about abusive labor pratices)
1991 Thames TV (London) airs short documentary on Nike workers in Indonesia
1991 Economist magazine report on Nike-producing factories' labor strife
l991 Departmental strikes at Tae Hwa and Pratama Abadi
1991 Knight Ridder story on Nike-producing factories in Indonesia
1991 Numerous reports in Indonesian press about shoe factories
1991 Institute for Technology at Bandung (W. Java) and lnstitute for Social Studies (The Hague) team up on research on shoe industry in Indonesia -- controversial findings lead to informal press ban on coverage of the shoe factories
1992 Oregonian newspaper prints lengthy article on Nike's Indonesia operations -- Phil
Knight (Nike CEO) is given space for vituperative response
l 992 State Dept. Report to Congress on Human Rights mentions shoe factories' refusal to pay min. wage
1992 Strike at Sung Hwa
1992 Nike formulates Code of Conduct and Memorandum of Understanding
1992 Harper's magazine publishes Nike: The New Free-Trade Heel by Jeff Ballinger
l992 Cover story of Far Eastern Sconomic Review -- in-depth look at Nike's Asian operations
1992 L.A. Times: New Shots Fired in Indonesia Wage War (GSP & Nike) C. Wallace
1993 Sung Hwa protest leaders fired after 10-week military investigation (case of 24 fired workers now before Indonesian Supreme Court)
1993 Nike exchanges letters with Oregon Friends' community
1993 Nike responds to Letters to Editor in Utne Reader
1993 Critical reports in Int'l Herald Tribune, New york Times, the Progressive, New Internationalist & Amnesty, the Economist and Jakarta Post
1993 Sadisah (fired Nike worker) attends meeting in Paris hosted by Agir Ici and travels to Germany, Holland and the UK
1993 Nike Boycott launched by evangelical group in Germany (Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Duisburg-Neumuhl)
1993 Sneaker campaigns undertaken in Holland (IRENE & Komitee Indonesie) and Italy (Centro Nuovo Modello di Sviluppo)
1993 Strike at Pou Chen (also known as Nikomas)
1993 CBS-TV Street Stories report on Nike in Indonesia
1993 Press for Change organized
1993 Labor rights activist Marsinah is bludgeoned to death in E. Java
1993 CGIL Garment Workers (Italy) discuss with Ballinger their agreement with Benneton for monitoring overseas operations
1993 Sports Illustrated names Nike "the most powerful force in sports" due to gargantuan promotion/marketing budget
1993 Highest labor court in Indonesia rules in favor of 24 workers fired from former Sung Hwa (now Eltri) factory
1994 Amsterdam-based SOMO (Center for Research on Transnational Corporations) completes study: The Nike Method (about Asian sourcing)
1994 New campaigns launched in the UK (Christian Aid) and France (Agir Ici )
1994 Research undertaken by YAKOMA in Indonesia with grant from Press for Change -- provides information for first "Nike in Indonesia" newsletter
1994 IRENE conducts Code of Conduct conference in Brussels -- first meeting of ad hoc Sports Shoe Campaign Group
1994 Criticism of Nike's labor practices on Prime Time Live, by Barnett & Cavanagh in New York Times +the Economist quotes Korean shoe contractor on min. wage
1994 Press for Change/YAKOMA research reveals continued wage cheating by Nike contractors in Indonesia
1994 Nike hires Ernst and Young to do "social audits"
1994 Major Indonesia sweatshop (+ GSP) story by Wm. Greider in Rolling Stone
1994 Major Indonesia sweatshop story by M. Goozner in Chicago Trib. (Nike official criticizes indep. trade union only weeks after Pakpahan jailed the first time)
1994 Random House publishes Just Do It (Donald Katz) -- calls Indonesia operations of Nike, "Management by terror and browbeating."
1994 News from IRENE carries excellent survey of sweatshop campaigns (European focus had been mainly on retailers up to this time -- shift to labels )
1994 Many stories appear on issue of worker rights in Indonesia -- apparel trade press begins to report story of Nike's Asian operations
1994 Strikes at Nagasakti Paramashoes (NASA) and at Tae Hwa
1994 Excellent L.A.Times story: "Relief Elusive for Asia's Labor Pains" C. Wallace
Boston Globe series (shoe factories play major role in both)
1994 Indonesian Ministry of Manpower overrules highest labor court in favor of Nike contractor -- voids "back-to-work" order and back-pay award
1994 Strikes at Pou Chen and Pratama Abadi -- YAKOMA researchers interview workers
1994 Press for Change takes out ads for four consecutive weeks in alternative weeklies in Portland (OR), Boston and Los Angeles (offers newsletter free to teachers)
1995 Seafarers International Union, AFL-ClO begins to publish Nike in Indonesia newsletter for Press for Change
1995 Pratama Abadi manager lines up and slaps 15 women from quality control section
1995 Ms. magazine publishes "Globe-Trotting Sneaker" by Cynthia Enloe (includes cost breakdown of $70 pair of Nikes)
1995 AAFLI-supported "LAIDS" research team interviews 550 workers at Nik-producing factory in Majalaya, W. Java
1995 Washington Post prints cost breakdown for $70 pair of Nikes
1995 Canadian Catholic organization, Developpement et Paix, begins two year campaign to monitor overseas production of Nike footwear and Levi's jeans -campaign director, Jacques Bertrand, goes to Indonesia to talk with workers producing Nikes
1995 First report on Nike's production in Vietnam -- The Business Journal
1995 Article in Marie Claire: "Worked to Death" -- mentions Nike plants in Indonesia and company's Code of Conduct
1995 Administrative Court in Indonesia overturns Manpower Ministry's decision on 24 fired Nike workers
1995 Oxfam brochure: "Made in Dignity" (French)
1995 Press for Change research reveals physical punishment of workers -information sent to Nike offices in U.S. and Jakarta, no reply (Indonesia research supported, in part, by Developpement et Paix )
1995 Coalition for Development Action (Brussels) Journal publishes study by Peter Pennartz of IRENE: "Competition Policies: the Case of Nilie"
1995 Sisbikum, an Indonesian NGO, helps shoe workers to form a new advocacy group with elected leaders from the rank-and-file (Perbupas)
1995 The International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (Jakarta & The Hague) begins a series of discussions on worker rights with the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations -- Nike is characterized as "worst" U.S.-based multinational operating in Indonesia as far as labor practices are concerned
1995 Amnesty International publishes in-depth look at the problems of women in Indonesia and E Timor -- lengthy examination of female labor activists' plight
1995 Deborah Spar, Asst. Professor at Harvard Business School (HBS), does a study (for CFR?) on impact of Western investment on labor rights in Indonesia
1995 Strike leads to dismissal of 13 activists at Pou Chen
1995 Ballinger presents paper on Corporate Responsibility to John F. Kennedy School of Government/HBS conference on development
1995 Nike begins discussions with French, British, and Italian campaign groups -- Nike emphasizes Code + Memorandum
1995 Conference in Pisa: "Consumers and Labor," addressed by Muchtar Pakpahan -another meeting of Sports Shoe Campaign Group
1995 Dutch "Fair Play" campaign gets good exposure at several Youth Fairs and in the press (IRENE + Komitee Indonesie )
1995 The Declaration de Berne and Pain pour le prochain launch a study on sweatshops for campaign in Switzerland -- researchers travel to Indonesia and Thailand
1995 London-based Christian Aid commissions study of shoe factories in four Asian countries -- published report has tremendous media impact
1995 Australian researcher, Peter Hancock, goes to live in Indonesian village of Majalaya (W. Java) -- interviews scores of workers at Nike-producing factory
1995 World Development Movement (U.K.) -- with 7,000 members and 150 participating organizations across Britain -- distributes brochure with breakdown of cost for Nike sneaker made in Indonesia
1995 Press for Change does mailing to seventy college newspapers
1995 World Federation of Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) holds conference 011 ethical business practices
1995 Bama Athreya -- finishing field research for dissertation on Indonesian women workers -- interviews dozens of Nike workers from HASI and Pou Chen factories
1995 Sydney-based Community Aid Abroad (CAA) establishes contact with Press for Change and compiles bibliography on Indonesian Nike workers' struggle
1995 Multinational Monitor magazine names Nike to "Ten Worst" list -- publishes article by J. Ballinger
1995 Press for Change begins discussion with Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
1995 Students at Univ. of Wisconsin combat attempts by Nike and Reebok to get shoe deal at Madison campus
1996 Portland-based Justice, Do It Nike! (J-DIN) begins regular Saturday leafletting outside Niketown store
1996 Sports Shoe Campaign Group meets in Brussels (representatives from: UK,
Holland, France, Italy, U.S.A. and Belgium)
1996 Joseph Tam, member of the Portland school board, objects to $500,000 Nike gift
("Our kids shouldn't benefit from the sweat of Asian kids.") -- credit J-DIN
1996 Press for Change protests at Reebok Human Rights Award ceremony in New York
1996 P. Pennartz' (IRENE) report in WFSGI newsletter draws angry response from Nike
1996 Press for Change research in Indonesia documents continued worker abuse at Nike-producing factories -- few workers have seen Code of Conduct, Ballinger tells press conf. in Jakarta (press reports leadwith "forced overtime" issue)
1996 Some Nike contractors in Indonesia are granted partial waivers from new minimum wage law (finding ways to cheat workers with government sanction)
1996 Five NGOs in Indonesia form Independent Sportshoes Monitoring Network (ISMN) -- group submits detailed monitoring proposal to Nike + meets with Dusty Kidd, labor practices chief for Nike, to discuss monitoring (respected women's rights, consumer and legal aid organizations comprise ISMN)
1996 Continuing consultations among ICCR, General Board of Pensions, United Methodist Church and Press for Change leads to shareholder resolution on independent monitoring
1996 National Labor Committee brings unprecedented attention to sweatshops with Kathie Lee Gifford controversy -- reporter asks Michael Jordan for his views on Nike's production practices in Indonesia
1996 Press for Change is contacted by Global Exchange (S.F., CA) with offer of assistance -- in less than two months, G-X finds resources to bring fired Nike worker to U.S. for 5-city tour
1996 Frontlash -- formerly the youth/student arena group of the AFL-CIO -- helps to organize some campus and community protests
1996 Campaign for Labor Rights is formed by the Nicaragua Network -- group does grassroots organizing for Disney, Nike, Philips-Van Husen and other campaigns
1996 White House forms Apparel Industry Partnership to address public concern over U.S. firms' ties to abusive contractors -- fired Nike worker denied admission to founding conference -- Marymount University's "Fashion Industry Forum"
1996 Ballinger discusses Forurm with Larry Martin (Apparel Industry) and Bud KonheiM (Nicole Miller) on Newshour w/ Jim Lehrer -- NYT column contrasts treatment given to Nike worker with Administration's pursuit of Lippo (Indonesian)
1996 Joint report on repression in Indonesia by Human Rights Watch/Asia and RFK Memorial Center -- describes shoe factory protests led by now-jailed Dita Sari
1996 CBS-TV broadcasts report on Nike-producing factories in Vietnam
1996 Businessman Thuyen Nguyen contacts Press for Change about Nike/Vietnam story -- within days he forms Vietnam Labor Watch
1996 PfC, G-X, CLR, VLW and Justice - Do It Nike! begin to conter regularly on strategy
1996 Rev. Jesse Jackson refused visit of Nike-producing factory while in Indonesia
1996 PfC attends conference on monitoring codes of conduct -- convened by IRENE in Duisburg, Germany (two members of ISMN/Indonesia also attend)
1996 Nike sends board members John Thompson (Georgetown) and Jill Ker CoNway (M.I.T.) to Indonesia and Vietnam for brief tour -- both make "report" to Nike shareholders, dismissing claims of critics and unfavorable press reports
1996 ISMN undertakes research funded by AFL-C10 Impact Project: continuing problems with wages and forced overtime are noted -- a whopping 36% of Nike workers have been involved in strike actions, the survey finds
1996 Filmmaker Michael Moore publishes "Downsize This" and names Nike CEO, Phil Knight as a top "corporate outlaw" based on information from IRENE
1996 Swiss groups, led by Declaration de Berne, undertake educational campaign about sweatshop conditions in Asian shoe factories
1996 Tim Connor and Jeff Atkinson of the Australian group CAA publish "Sweating for Nike" -- based on their research in Indonesia
1996 Developpement et Paix begins second year of Nike/Levis monitoring + pressure campaign by sending Nike over 80,000 petition signatures
1996 Agir Ici distributes 150,000 "Soyez Sport"campaign postcards in an effort joined by eleven other French organizations -- press kit includes eleven-page report on conditions in shoe factories in S.E. Asia and a proposed code of conduct
1996 Nike meets with sports shoe campaigners from Holland, France and Canada
1996 NY Times' Edward Gargan documents tense situation among workers at huge Pou Chen facility near Jakarta -- Nike production in Indonesia is up to about 50 million pairs per year
1996 Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation lawyer, Apong Herlina reports that the case of 24 fired Nike workers has been sent to the country's Supreme Court (no mention in State Dept.'s Report to Congress on Human Rights in Indonesia) -- AH visits NYC to attend CEDAW conference
1996 Amnesty International chief, Pierre Sane, praises Nike/Levis campaign of Developpement et Paix while in Montreal
1996 G-X organizes sixteen-member delegation to Indonesia, group meets with Nike workers and democracy advocates -- including independent union leaders (most activists appear on G-X video: Islands on Fire)
1996 Chris Webber, Washington Wizards (nee Bullets) forward refuses to approve $ 150 signature sneaker for Nike -- complains that poor kids are targets and shoes only cost five bucks to make
1996 Life magazine publishes report by Sydney Schanberg on Nike soccer balls stitched up by children in Sialkot region of Pakistan -- Nike promises to hx problem
1996 Nike sends five-page lettter to universities to "explain" child labor controversy
1996 Business Week cites Nike wage cheating in Indonesia and, in separate Commentary, chides both Reebok and Nike on sweatshop-eradication efforts
1996 Washington Post prints Op-Ed by Anita Chan on sports shoe sweatshops in China
1997 Australian CAA launches post-card campaign and organizes Nike labor practices e-mail list-serve
1997 Numerous Nike shoe contractors in Indonesia apply for waiver for new minimum wage -- Nike steps in at last minute but a strike of 10,000 breaks out at HASI because workers still believed they were being cheated
1997 Strikes involving 3,000 workers making Nike shoes in Vietnam
1997 Canadian Auto Workers sponsor four-province tour for fired Indonesian Nike worker -- Campaign for Labor Rights puts the program together and PfC accompanies tour -- Cicih also does two programs in Seattle before returning
1997 Portland's Jobs with Justice helps to organize May Day rally at Niketown
1997 VLW's Thuyen Nguyen inspects factories in Vietnam -- very successful press conference is organized by G-X (also attended by AFL-CIO vice-President Clayola Brown and Ballinger)
1997 BBC-TV documentary "Branded" contrasts Nike extravagence (Atlanta Olympics) with Asian production scene
1997 Head of Nike Nordic (Mats Olsson) meets with Swedish Fair Trade Center (due to series of bad press reports) -- soon after, he met with head of Swedish UN Assn.
1997 Nike sends team to Europe to meet with ICFTU and other critics
1997 Tiger Woods shrugs off sweatshop question at British Open
1997 Nike hires Andrew Young for assessment of contractors' labor practices -- report is widely criticized as shallow and unhelpful
1997 Apparel Industry Partnership issues interim report -- G-X organizes widely-quoted critique of panel's work
1997 Protests organized at openings of Niketown stores in Seattle, Boston, New York and San Francisco
1997 Michael Moore conducts two interviews with Phil Knight for his documentary, The Big One
1997 Centro Nouvo Modello di Sviluppo has debate with Nike representative in Rome before audience of 300
1997 Developpement et Paix delivers over 130,000 postcards to Nike, conducts informational leafletiing and takes out several half-page newspaper ads in cities across Canada
1997 PfC and G-X give statements to Apparel Industry Partnership sub-Committee on Independent External Monitoring
1997 Sixty New York City high school students protest at Niketown
1997 Over 6,000 workers protest at Eagle factory, which produces for Nike -- at issue is severance payments due to thousands being laid off due to slack demand for Nike
1997 Securities and Exchange Commission rules Methodists' resolution off the proxy statement for 1997 shareholders' meeting, after Nike challenged same
1997 World-wide day of protest organized by CLR -- activities in over fifty cities in a dozen countries
1997 Ballinger goes head-to-head with director of Nike UK on GMTV
1997 Nike releases Vietnam/Indonesia wage study done by students at Amos Tuck School of Business (Dartmouth College)
1997 ISMN/Indonesia has another meeting with Dusty Kidd -- no progress toward independent monitoring
1997 Hong Kong Christian Industrial Cmte. and Asia Monitor Resource Center collaborate on study of Nike- and Reebok-producing factories in China -G-X releases report at Nike shareholders' meeting
1997 Fifty-four members of the House sign a letter to Phil Knight, PK responds with an invitation to visit factories
1997 Study by Rudy DeMeyer (NCOS Belgium) in Indonesia -- had cooperation with unions and community groups to put together 85,000 protest signatures
1997 Sports columnists around the U.S. begin to link Nike's big endorsement deals to sweatshop labor -- same with student protestors at UIIL, FL St., UNC, Penn St., Cal, U/MI, Colorado, etc.
1997 G-X "corporate responsibility" organizer helps Eleanor Smeal and a NOW representative to conduct press conference announcing women's groups' criticism of Nike's "women's empowerment" marketing campaign + sweatshop conditions
1997 Methodist group withdraws resolution before shareholders meeting
1997 Transnational Research Action Center releases report compiled by Dara O'Rourke who just returned from Vietnam after a seven-month consultancy with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization -- DO was given an internal Nike study which showed serious health and safety problems
1997 Nike official complains about increase in Indonesian minimum wage (up 20 cents per worker per day)
1997 Nike announces 10-year, $200 million deal with Brazil's national football team
1997 Twelve year-olds from Ridgewood, New Jersey perform their anti-sweatshop play, "Justice, Do It" at the Roundabout Theater on Broadway
1997 Reggie White, star of World-champion Green Bay Packers, denounces Nike for use of sweatshop labor + lack of shoe jobs in the U.S.
1997 Press release notes that Nike garment-producing factory in Malaysia is paying Bangladeshi migrant labor less than Malaysian co-workers (violates Nike's own Code) -- from International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
1997 UNC students meet with Dean Smith and Univ. officials -- Nike offers to send several students and Daily Tar Heel reporter to Vietnam and Indonesia
1997 Indonesian currency crashes - labor cost for $70 pair of Nikes now less than $ 1
1997 Four-day series on Nike's Asian operations in Oregonian -- Knight quotes Andrew Young who told him that he thought that Nike would be an issue in the 2000 Presidential election
1997 SOMO issues updated report on sportswear companies
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