Nike Boycott
by Richard Thorsten
An Oregon coalition known as "Justice. Do It Nike!" has called a boycott of
Nike, the world's largest shoemaker, in response to working conditions in
Nike-contracted factories in Indonesia and China.
"Justice. Do It Nike" is working in conjunction with a coalition of
organizations across the country to persuade the Oregon-based company to
treat subcontracted workers more fairly. The coalition is encouraging Nike
to: allow independent monitoring of their subcontracted production
facilities overseas; raise workers' wages above the $1.80 per day average
wage they currently receive; support the rights of workers to organize for
better wages and working conditions; stop allowing the Indonesian military to
suppress peaceful strikes at factories; cease the use of child labor; and
settle claims by Indonesian workers who have been unjustly blacklisted by
their subcontractors for attempting to improve conditions in their plants.
Nike has dramatically lowered the costs of producing shoes over the last
fifteen years by subcontracting these services in developing countries.
Originally, many of these factories were located in Taiwan and South Korea.
Workers began organizing for better treatment as their plants became
successful. Nike seized the advantage of improved trade conditions with
other more authoritarian regimes and moved its subcontracted facilities to
China and Indonesia.
A Working Group on Nike was formed early last year to confront Nike over
conditions in their factories. It includes early Nike activists such as Jeff
Ballinger of Press for Change in New Jersey, Medea Benjamin of Global
Exchange in San Francisco, Amnesty International, and the Oregon "Justice"
group, headed by Max White. These organizations have repeatedly requested
meetings with Nike to discuss working conditions overseas. Nike's Indonesian
subcontractors' $1.80 wage does not even meet subsistence levels within the
factories' own impoverished country. Children as young as eight years old
have been documented as regular workers by concerned outside organizations.
In one new Nike-run Indonesian factory, workers sew and stitch for twelve
hours a day, seven days a week, without any benefits or additional
compensation. Past attempts to organize for better conditions have been met
with brutal military force, beatings from supervisors, and swift firings.
According to Amnesty International, workers in China and Indonesia have
virtually no legal recourse against these indiscriminate forms of punishment
and dismissal.
So far, Nike has mostly ignored the issues raised by the Working Group and
the Justice boycott. CEO Philip Knight has refused to meet with these
organizations and regular workers from Nike's subcontracted plants. Nike's
annual reports note that the company itself audits overseas factories,
although it has refused to allow independent monitoring and has not released
the results of these audits. They also have denied charges that they
indirectly employ children to work in slavish conditions to make their shoes.
The company claims that subcontractors abide by all the laws and customs of
the countries in which they operate.
For more information on the Nike boycott, contact Max White of "Justice. Do
It Nike" in Portland, Oregon at (503) 292-8168. To contact Nike, call (800)
344-6453, or (800) EGG-NIKE, as BQ has been told the number spells.
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