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Nike Research
Nike Research
Nike Research
When workers there gained new freedom to organize and the wages began to rise, Nike looked for "greener pastures so they found them in Indonesia, China, and most recently Vietnam, countries where protective labour laws are poorly enforced and cheap labour is abundant. Also in China and Vietnam, the law prohibits workers from forming independent trade unions. This was also true in Indonesia until 1998, when Dictator General Suharto was overthrown. These three countries continue to be the major places where Nike shoes are made.
same month, 1,300 workers in Vietnam went on strike demanding a one-cent-per-hour raise and in 1998, 3,000 workers in China went on strike to protest not only low wages, but hazardous working conditions. And remember, in these countries, workers who protest put themselves at great personal risk. They can end up fired and blacklisted from further jobs, or worse yet, be interrogated and jailed. It can be argued that a bad job is better than no job at all, but a good job is certainly better than a bad one. Nike can well afford to provide healthy working conditions and pay a living wage.
Has Nike fulfilled its promise to allow independent monitoring of its factories?
In May 1998 Nike announced that it would allow independent monitoring of its factories. However, its definition of independent monitoring includes the use of for-profit accounting firms such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young. Anti-sweatshop activists feel these firms do not have the trust of workers and are too beholden to Nike to be considered independent. Nike has announced that in Vietnam it is using social scientists from the University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City to help monitor factory conditions. And in April 1999 it announced the
formation of the Global Alliance for Workers and Communities, a grouping of business, public and non-profit organizations that is supposed to involve local NGOs in the assessment of workplace conditions through interviews, focus groups and worker surveys. These initiatives are too new to be able to determine how effective they will actually be. Moreover, while independent monitoring is important for halting the most egregious abuses, it should only be a temporary measure. Workers themselves should be empowered, through their own organizations, to protect their rights.