Stop Nike Sweatshops

EFJ's campaign website, www.stopnikeweatshops.org, is currently undergoing a major overhaul in expectation of the upcoming film, Sweat. During this interim period, basic information regarding Nike sweatshops is below:

LATEST NEWS:

EFJ Launches MySpace site with Blog!

We are very excited to announce that we recently launched a MySpace page for our Behind the Swoosh Campaign which includes 6 video clips as well as a new blog, which features breaking news stories on for the campaign to end sweatshops.

The following videos are available on EFJ’s new MySpace webpage:

BEHIND THE SWOOSH
ESPN: ST. JOHN'S AND NIKE SWEATSHOPS
ABC 7:30 REPORT: NIKE SWEATSHOPS AND THE SYDNEY OLYMPICS
SKY TV: NIKE IN INDONESIA
ESPN: SPORTS IN COURT
NBC EXTRA: DAVID AND GOLIATH


Find the following news stories and action items on EFJ’s new Behind the Swoosh Blog:

Keady Pushes TIAA-CREF on Nike Investments (NY Times Article)
EFJ asks Phil Knight for Wage Rates
University of Michigan Students Protest Sweatshops
ACTION: Ask Nike to Disclose Wage Rates
ACTION: Support the Student Sit-In at USC
ACTION: Tell Nike to act at the BJ&B Factory in the Dominican Republic
ACTION: Tell University Of Maryland to Adopt the DSP

Creighton Preparatory School Adopts Sweatshop Free Purchasing Policy

In early May 2007, Creighton Preparatory School in Omaha, Nebraska adopted a sweatshop free purchasing policy that requires all suppliers involved in the production and distribution of apparel purchased for all athletic and activity programs at the school to be sweatshop free. The policy is designed to ensure that garments purchased by the school, especially those with the Creighton Preparatory School logo, are not manufactured by companies that engage in unfair labor practices by operating or using factories where workers are forced to work for low wages, no benefits, and long hours and in cramped and unsanitary conditions.

According to Dan Schinzel, Director of Athletics, the school initiated the policy in response to a presentation given to the faculty, staff and students earlier this year by Jim Keady of Educating for Justice, who had visited the all-boys school as part of Ignatian Heritage Week, which celebrates the contemporary mission of the Society of Jesus of serving the faith and promoting in society the justice of the Gospel.

“After listening to Mr. Keady, we decided that this issue provided Creighton Prep with an opportunity to model for our students the commitment to justice that we teach in our classrooms,” Schinzel said. “With this policy, we are carrying out the teaching of the Church regarding the dignity and rights of all those who work, especially the impoverished and marginalized.”

Ultimately, Creighton Preparatory School hopes to convince other Catholic schools to adopt similar sweatshop free policies. “We are sending out letters to the other 48 Jesuit high schools in the United States, inviting them to join us in this effort to advance the cause of fair labor,” Tom Neitzke, S.J., Assistant Principal at Creighton Preparatory School said. “We are also extending that same invitation to the Catholic high schools in the Omaha Archdiocese.”

The Nation article: "Sneakers for Social Justice?"
"Stephon Marbury, the wildly talented and widely criticized point guard for the New York Knicks, usually carries a Q rating commensurate with Kim Jong Il. Making max dollars and being the face of the NBA's most dysfunctional franchise will do that. But Marbury has been drawing high-profile praise in recent days for promoting a new basketball sneaker described as "revolutionary."

What's "revolutionary" about the new Starbury One--a reference to Marbury's on-court moniker--is that it doesn't cost as much as a plane ticket to Maui. The Starbury Ones are listed at $14.98.That's $14.98. Not $149.80." (October 2, 2006 article) More>

Anti-Sweatshop Legislation
The National Labor Committee has been working on anti-sweatshop legislation. The legislation - The Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act - will for the first time hold corporations legally accountable to respect human and worker rights by prohibiting the import, sale, or export of sweatshop goods in the U.S. Goods made under conditions which violate the core ILO standards will be banned. Specifically, these core standards include no child labor, no forced labor, freedom of association, right to organize and bargain collectively and the right to decent working conditions.

The anti-sweatshop legislation was introduced in the Senate (S.3485) by Senator Byron Dorgan (ND) on June 8, 2006. A companion bill (H.R.5635) was introduced in the House by Representative Sherrod Brown (OH-13) on June 16, 2006. Click here for the list of sponsors. Call your representatives today and ask them to vote Yes on the Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act.

NEW REPORT: Offside!
Oxfam International’s report "Offside! Labor Rights and Sportswear Production in Asia" examines how sports brands are tackling the problem of sweatshops in their industry, with a particular focus on workers’ freedom to form and join trade unions.

The report features nine case studies that document how sports brands have responded to evidence of labor rights abuses in particular factories. In some cases they have responded well and addressed the problems while in others labour abuses have continued.

Ultimately, a bigger challenge remains to persuade sports brands to make sure human rights are respected right across their supply chain. The report assesses how much effort sports brands have made to improve labor rights for all workers who make their products. Published May 2006.

NEW REPORT: Does Monitoring Improve Labor Standards?
Using a unique data set based on factory audits of working conditions in over 800 of Nike's suppliers in 51 countries, Does Monitoring Improve Labor Standards?: Lessons from Nike by MIT Sloan School of Management faculty seek to explore whether or not monitoring for compliance with corporate codes of conduct -- currently the principal way both global corporations and labor rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) address poor working conditions in global supply chain factories -- actually lead to remediation in terms of improved working conditions and enforced labor rights. Published July 2006.

VICTORY - NIKE DISCLOSES FACTORY LOCATIONS!
On April 13th, 2005, Nike issued its "2004 Corporate Responsibility Report" admitting to countless abuses that labor advocates have struggled to bring to light for years. On the same day Nike launched the report, they took a concrete step that activists had been asking for 10 years: they disclosed the names and addresses of each one of their 700+ factories around the world.

Nonprofit groups, including Educating for Justice, have long asked Nike to disclose their factory locations so that independent groups could monitor the working and living conditions of Nike's subcontracted factory workers. Gains were made several years ago when students pressured Nike to disclose the factories that produced the Nike apparel in their bookstores. At that point Nike had only disclosed roughly a dozen factory locations.

We're excited that Nike has finally disclosed their factory locations, and we look forward to the same disclosures from other companies in the sportswear industry. Click here for Nike's full factory disclosure list.

EFJ RESPONDS: Nike's Corporate Responsibility Report
Over 150 newspapers ran the Associated Press news story about Nike's 2004 Corporate Responsibility Report, which included much of Nike’s perspective but very little from critical labor advocates.

The following is EFJ's Response to Nike's 2004 Corporate Responsibility Report:

While it is good to see companies like Nike taking more responsibility, it is also important to look back at their responses to labor rights advocates over the years. Every issue that Nike found in self-monitoring over the last year had been brought up by nonprofit advocates - like EFJ, Global Exchange, OXFAM Australia, and Press for Change – over the past 10 years. Rather than listening to these groups, Nike executives have and continue to spend the majority of their time (and millions of dollars) trying to defend themselves and polishing Nike’s image through public relations.

Now that Nike has admitted that its factories are places where physical and sexual abuse, extraordinarily low wages, restrictions of bathroom use and other human rights abuses happen on a regular basis, EFJ is interested to see how these problems will be solved. It is easy to admit that there is a problem, but the question becomes, "How will Nike remedy this situation?" Nike pledges to increase monitoring, but the monitor they primarily use is the Fair Labor Association – which Nike co-founded and continues to fund. Workers, students, and labor advocates do not see this group as independent, and feel that the FLA has a vested interest in producing positive monitoring reports.

It is important to point out that an acknowledgment of a problem does not mean the problem is over. Nor does saying where the problem is happening (disclosing factory locations) mean that one should be lauded for finally doing the right thing. Similar violations were found and acknowledged by Nike in past reports, and yet the founder of Nike, Phil Knight admitted that 25% of Nike’s factories were still not meeting minimum standards (an estimate we believe is significantly low).

Rather than being fully transparent and open, Nike continues to pick and choose the labor advocates with whom they work so that they can essentially control the outcome. None of the most critical and knowledgeable labor rights advocates were included as “stakeholders” on this report. In addition, when sending the Corporate Responsibility Report to the press, Nike chose the sources that the newspapers should contact for a “critical” opinion.

In the Oregonian newspaper, based in Portland which is close to Nike headquarters, Nike gave the report to the editorial board but with so many caveats that the final news report included only Nike’s opinions and a person Nike hand-picked as a “labor rights advocate”. When the reporter, Ms. Jung, was questioned about this conflict of interest, she said: "I felt I was able to include people who were knowledgeable, informed and had been critical of Nike.” She continued, "I think the story that we published was fair and balanced."

Here are some of the facts from the report that the newspapers did not include in their stories:

Freedom of Association
- In 10% to 25% of Nike’s partner factories, freedom of association is prohibited by law (e.g. China, Vietnam).
- In up to 10% of Nike’s partner factories, freedom of association is prohibited due to an exclusive union agreement.
- In up to 10% of Nike’s partner factories, freedom of association is not allowed or provided although it is legal. (NOTE: EFJ believes this number to be significantly lower than the actual number of factories that do not allow independent union organizing).

Harassment Issues
- In 25% to 50% of Nike’s partner factories, workers report verbal, physical, sexual and /or psychological abuse.
- In 25% to 50% of Nike’s partner factories, workers do not trust the grievance process.
- In 25% to 50% of Nike’s partner factories, a confidential grievance system is not provided.

Working Hours
- In 50% to 100% of Nike’s partner factories, work hours exceed Nike’s Code of Conduct.
- In 25% to 50% of Nike’s partner factories, one day off in seven is not provided (i.e. employees are working 7 days a week).
- In 25% to 50% of Nike’s partner factories, work hours exceed legal limit.
- In up to 25% of Nike’s partner factories, when workers refuse to work overtime they are penalized.

Wages
- In 10% to 25% of Nike’s partner factories, the overtime pay rate is less than the law demands or the calculation for overtime pay is inaccurate.
- In 10% to 25% of Nike’s partner factories, the wage calculation rate is inaccurate (i.e. the amount that workers are paid is wrong, and most likely below what they should get).
- In 25% to 50% of Nike’s partner factories, wages paid to workers are below the legal minimum wage.

(Note: Nike has not published any research on living wages for their partner factories.)

Child Labor
- In 10% to 25% of Nike’s partner factories, worker age verification is inconsistent or not well-documented.
- In up to 10% of Nike’s partner factories, there are workers younger than Nike’s "Child Labor" standard.

As stated earlier, we are excited about the campaign victory in getting Nike to finally disclose their factory locations after 10 years. However, we still have a long way to go. For the sake of the workers who produce the real wealth for Nike, yet continue to live in poverty, we cannot wait another decade. Nike needs to move with the same speed in correcting labor violations as they would in correcting a product defect. The problems are clear and so are the solutions. To borrow their oft-used motto, they need to “Just Do It.”

Educating for Justice’s demands of Nike remain the same, minus the need to disclose their factory locations:

1. Nike must open its doors to independent monitoring from groups that are in no way connected with Nike, such as the Workers’ Rights Consortium;
2. Nike must guarantee that contract workers are paid a living wage that allows them to meet their basic needs;
3. Nike must guarantee the rights of their contract workers to form independent unions and demand that factory management collectively bargains with these unions in good faith.

REPORT FROM INDONESIA: Workers Receive 15% of Legal Minimum Wage
On April 6th, 2005, one week prior to the release of Nike’s 2004 Corporate Responsibility Report, a respected labor rights group in Indonesian reported that workers at a Nike contract factory were paid wages that were extremely far below the legal minimum wage, violating both Indonesian labor law and Nike’s own Code of Conduct.

FNPBI reported that workers at the factory, Didachi Makmur Abadi, owned by South Korean investors had gone on strike to protest the starvation wages. The workers were producing 40 pairs of shoes per hour for the Nike and Puma corporations.

Although the minimum wage is $72/month, the workers at Didachi were paid $47/month. What is worse is that for three months prior, workers only received $11/month or 15% of the legal minimum wage.

To put this into perspective, 15% of the legal minimum wage would mean that an American working in the U.S. at a $5.15/hour (minimum wage) job would receive 77 cents per hour or $6.16 for an 8-hour day.

Unfortunately this is not a rare case. One week after this information was publicized, Nike's Corporate Responsibility Report stated that in 25% to 50% of Nike’s partner factories (between 175 and 300 factories), workers are paid less than the legal minimum wage.

The Rush to China for Cheap Labor
The New York Times, March 10, 2005
By David Barboza and Elizabeth Becker
SHANGHAI, March 9 - In the first month after the end of all quotas on textiles and apparel around the world, imports to the United States from China jumped about 75 percent, according to trade figures released by the Chinese government. More>

Phil Knight Resigns as CEO of Nike
Philip Knight, Founder of Nike, resigned from his role as President and CEO, effective December 28, 2004. Knight will maintain his position as Chairman of the Board. According to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Knight still owns 92% of the nonvoting Class A stock and roughly 28% of the voting shares of Nike Class B stock, allowing him to remain as powerful within the company as he has been in the past. William Perez of S.C. Johnson & Son will replace Knight.

FINDINGS ON NIKE SWEATSHOPS:

Recent Worker Rights Consortium report on Nike factory in Thailand (October 2004)

Recent Worker Rights Consortium report on Nike factory in China (September 2004), including EFJ's Response

Reports done by Oxfam / Community Aid Abroad's Nikewatch:
Play Fair At The Olympics (March 2004)
Lern's Story: Nike in Thailand (January 2003)
We are Not Machines (March 2002)
Still Waiting For Nike To Do It (May 2001)
Like Cutting Bamboo (September 2000)

Gap and Nike: No Sweat? (October 2000) - The BBC looks at a factory in Cambodia producing for Nike and Gap

Industrial Embroidery (August 2003) - National Labor Committee reports on factory conditions in Honduras where Nike, Gap, Old Navy and Polo goods are produced

La Lucha Sigue (July 2001) - A report by Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador and the Collegiate Apparel Research Initiative giving a collection of interviews on the life, work and struggle of workers at the Kuk Dong Factory, a Reebok and Nike contract factory in Puebla, Mexico.

Monitoring the Monitors (September 2000) - Nike claimed that monitoring by PriceWaterhouseCoopers ensured that labour standards were respected in Nike contract factories. In this report, MIT Professor Dara O'Rourke finds that PwC’s monitoring methods are significantly flawed and that they paint a false impression of labor conditions.

Visit the Nikewatch website for more reports on conditions in Nike factories.

FINDINGS ON OTHER CORPORATIONS' SWEATSHOPS:

Reports done by the National Labor Committee:

Disney Sweatshops in Bangladesh (January 2004)

Puma's Workers in China Facing an Olympic Struggle to Survive (2004)

Bush-Cheney Re-election Campaign Clothing Produced in Burma (2004) - Burma (Myanmar) is currently the only country where workers, along with the democracy movement, are asking the international community to stop all foreign investment, which allows the current military junta to remain in power. The International Labor Organization has identified mass forced labor in Burma at the level of human slave labor, and many Congressional representatives (both Republican and Democrat) have spoken out in support of a ban on Burmese imports. In addition, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the democratically-elected leader of Burma, has been detained on house arrest by the military junta over the past several years.



ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Sit In! A Tactical Analysis by Aaron Kreider (January 2005) - This document details the tactics and strategies of the student labor / anti-sweatshop movement in the United States from 1999 to the present.



FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

What is a sweatshop?
There are numerous definitions for the term "sweatshop". Along with many labor advocacy groups, EFJ defines sweatshop as a factory or other location where:

* Workers are paid a wage that does not allow them to meet their most basic needs and/or to take care of a small family.
* Workers face hazardous working conditions and/or verbal, physical, psychological, or sexual abuse.
* Workers face repression and intimidation when attempting to form independent unions.
* Owners/Managers of the factory refuse to engage in good-faith bargaining with workers regarding wages and working conditions.

Why does EFJ focus on Nike?
Nike is the leader of the sportswear industry, controlling roughly 44% of the industry, more than Adidas and Reebok combined, which each control roughly 12%. When Nike sets a standard, the industry traditionally follows. If Nike were to set a standard, in which they systematically listen and respond to the demands of their subcontracted employees, the rest of the industry would have to follow suit both to remain competitive and because of public pressure which would follow.

Should I boycott Nike products?
No. Educating for Justice’s Stop Nike Sweatshops campaign has not called for a boycott, because the workers have not called for a boycott of Nike products. A boycott has the potential to threaten the jobs of workers whom we are trying to support. A key component in any solidarity campaign is listening to those persons who are affected by an injustice, rather than dictating what we believe a good answer might be from a Western perspective.

But aren’t these jobs better than no jobs?
For a country like Indonesia, with a high unemployment and underemployment rate, any job is better than no job at all. A common myth that Nike workers and the international solidarity movement want companies to leave developing countries like Indonesia, is absolutely false. Indonesian women and men want to work, will gladly work for Nike, and are typically proud of the work that they do. However, they do not want to be and do not have to be exploited in such work. This question, “Aren’t these jobs better than no jobs at all?” begs another question: “Why must we talk about these jobs in the extreme – a job as is or no job at all? Where is the middle ground between these extremes?” EFJ believes that any person who is willing to work hard for a successful company, well over 40 hours per week, should be able to afford three meals per day, a comfortable and clean place to sleep, housing, drinking water and basic health care at the very least.

TAKE ACTION TO END THE ABUSE:

1. Contact Nike Executives. Write to Nike executives and ask that they meet the demands of Nike subcontracted workers by:

A.) Ensuring that factory management raise wages for workers to a living wage,
B.) Ensuring that workers can freely associate and form independent unions,
C.) Ensuring truly independent monitors
D.) Ending the threat of cutting and running to other factories or other countries where labor is cheaper and unions are not respected

Contact Information:
Phil Knight, Chairman of the Board
Nike, Inc.
One Bowerman Drive
Beaverton, OR 97005
e-mail: lisa.mckillips@nike.com


2. Contact the U.S. Congress. Write to the leading members of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection. Ask that they propose legislative measures so that workers are ensured their basic human rights when producing the goods of US corporations for US citizens.

Contact Information:
Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection
Attn: Congressman Cliff Stearns
2370 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-5744
More contact information

Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection
Attn: Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky
515 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2111
Click here for e-mail


3. Learn more about the WTO. The World Trade Organization (WTO) sets the legal ground-rules for international commerce between nations or in other words, they write the rules of trade that all countries (including the US) must abide by. For more information, check out what the WTO says about the WTO and also what independent labor rights advocates say about the WTO.


4. Become a Shareholder for Justice. Work with EFJ's Shareholders for Justice program by purchasing and / or donating shares of Nike stock. Come to Nike's annual shareholders' meeting and help us to write and pass resolutions on behalf of workers' rights. For more information, contact Jim@educatingforjustice.org.


5. Join or Organize a Social Justice Group. Join or organize a social justice group at your school, in your community, or within your Church. Help educate more people on the issues of economic globalization. Get sweatshop-free clothing into your school's bookstore. Ask your high-school or college group to affiliate with the United Students Against Sweatshops movement. Raise awareness within your community on these issues so that we are one step closer to achieving global economic justice in the workplace.


6. Make a donation. Help EFJ to educate the general public about systematic sweatshop abuses by making a donation to Educating for Justice. Click here for more information
about donations. Or you could buy one of our sweat-free t-shirts.


7. Get Your School's Bookstore and Clubs To Go Sweat-Free. Create institutional change at your college or high school by getting sweat-free clothing into your bookstore. Let all of the student groups know that their t-shirts and sweatshirts can be sweat-free. And it can be easy. Work with a school administrator or bookstore manager to order t-shirts, sweatshirts and other items from our list of sweat-free products. Or give the information to your local screenprinting shop and have them order the apparel directly. Don't forget to e-mail us once your bookstore or club has gone sweat-free. We will be sure to spread the word!


8. Educate Hundreds of People. Bring Educating for Justice to your college, high school, community group, or church to educate your community about sweatshops. For more information, click here. And be sure to check our Calendar of Events to see if we are coming to a school near you.