INDONESIAN WORKER UNNERVES NIKE
(TAPOL Bulletin, n. 1 - 7 October 1996)
Cicih Sukaesih, the young Indonesian worker who spent several weeks in the US, lobbying the sports shoe Nike to review its policy towards employees making like products in Indonesia, 'set off a public relations storm that could force the conglomerate to approve independent monitoring of its overseas contract,' according to the IPS news agency.
Although the company's chief executive, Phil Knight, refused to meet her, schools in Oregon, where the company is based, are reconsidering past decisions to accept cash from the company after hearing about what goes on in Indonesian factories. A company spokesperson told IPS it had accepted an offer from the CLinton Administration to join a group of corporations to study ways to improve their labour practices abroad. The company previously held itself aloof from such activities. Cicih's visit also helped draw the attention of US consumers to the poor conditions of workers producing for the US market.
Cicih's blitz of the US media focused attention on Nike's record in Indonesia, prompting the company to change its tune, said Medea Beniamin, co-director of Global Exchange, the activist group that co-sponsored her visit. She concedes however that US consumers are much more concerned about reports of the use of child labour than about underpaid adult workers.
(Jakarta Post, 20 August)
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