ACTIVISTS TO PUSH FOR STRONGER SWEATSHOP AGREEMENT:

On April 14, the Presidential task force on sweatshop issues released its long-awaited agreement. The task force consists of human rights and labor groups and apparel industry giants such as Nike and Liz Claiborne. That the Task Force took so long to produce a report was due to intransigence by industry representatives, who balked at any meaningful change from the sweatshop status quo which their own policies have created.

As for Nike, in the more than 8 months that its representative has participated in the task force, the company has used its involvement in that body as evidence that it is concerned and progressive. Away from the glare of publicity, however, Nike was one of the most hardline of the industry representatives.

The National Labor Committee has announced plans to gather hundreds of thousands of petition signatures between now and October 4, which NLC has declared a National Day of Conscience. The petition urges the task force to strengthen provisions covering monitoring and wages. Many activists question whether the guidelines for monitoring, as currently defined by the task force agreement, will lead to truly independent monitoring by local nongovernmental organizations. Also, the current agreement commits signatories only to pay the local minimum wage or prevailing industry wage, whichever is higher. Human rights advocates are nearly unanimous in saying that the minimum wage is rarely a living wage.

The ink was barely dry on the task force agreement when, on April 22, 10,000 workers from the PT HASI Nike factory in Indonesia went on strike to protest inadequate wages.

The Oregonian newspaper (published in Portland, Nike’s hometown) reported that the walkout was set off when workers felt they were being cheated out of a raise in the minimum wage. On April 1, the nation’s new minimum wage went into effect, raising wages by 20 cents a day. The HASI factory owners (along with other Nike contractors in Indonesia) had asked the government for permission not to pay the new wages, saying that the extra 20 cents would be a financial hardship. However, after protests from the workers and a directive from Nike headquarters in the U.S. calling on the contractor to pay the new wages, Hasi agreed. But at the same time, they took away a $7.75 monthly premium given to workers with steady attendance, a premium stipulated in the workers’ contract. In effect, they were taking back with one hand what they were giving with the other.

By April 23, a tentative agreement had been reached, with the factory owners agreeing to pay the new minimum wage and to partially restore the bonus at a lower level of $6.88 a month. However, the workers remained distrustful whether the factory would honor the agreement and subsequently struck again a few days later. Workers also are concerned that management may fire anyone suspected of leading the walkout, a practice common among Nike contractors.

On March 8, International Women’s Day, 56 women employed at a factory making Nike shoes in Dong Nai, Vietnam, were punished because they hadn’t worn regulation shoes to work. Factory officials ordered the women outside and made them run around the factory in the hot sun. The ordeal didn’t end until a dozen workers had collapsed. Vietnamese all over the country were outraged that on International Women’s Day, when most companies in Vietnam give women workers flowers and other gifts, 12 Vietnamese women were so abused they had to spend the day in the emergency room.

An article published in the Grand Rapids Press on December 15 revealed that some Nike clothing is being produced in Haiti. Nike’s contract is with the H.H. Cutler Co.—one of the same companies which is the subject of the National Labor Committee’s Disney labor rights campaign. The GR Press story, written by Mary Ann Sabo, details what has happened since Cutler moved its operations from Michigan to Haiti in recent years. The move created misery for the Michigan workers who lost their jobs. Also suffering are the Haitian workers who now have those jobs. Sabo quotes one worker who, after working at Cutler’s Haitian operation for five years, makes only 30 cents an hour: "...it’s not enough to get by on. It’s not enough to eat or send my children to school. Everything I’m trying to do doesn’t seem to bring me further in my life."

On April 4, 1997 the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald reported the findings of a researcher who recently concluded an 8-month study of Nike operations in an outlying part of Indonesia. The young women making shoes for Nike work an average of 11.5 hours per day and are fired immediately if they take sick leave. One young woman who collapsed from exhaustion died when factory managers failed to provide her any medical attention.

Canada: Development and Peace, a Canadian human rights organization, recently sent Nike 147,000 signed postcards asking the company to do right by its overseas production workers.

Italy: 300 concerned citizens packed a hall for a public meeting with Nike Italy’s director of communication, Pier Donato Vercellone. Participants grilled the Nike rep on why the company continues to refuse independent monitoring by local nongovernmental organizations, even where (as in Indonesia) there already are groups fully prepared to undertake that task. Italian activists recently concluded the current phase of their Nike campaign when they sent 5,000 postcards to Nike, demanding that the company respect the rights of its overseas production workers. The Italian Nike campaign now moves to its next phase, focused on the world of sports. Italian activists also are lining up graphics resources for a poster to be used by groups around the world, in preparation for an international mobilization on October 18 in support of Nike workers.

Edmonton, Ontario: Canadian Union of Public Employees local 474 continues to lead a movement against acceptance of equipment donated by Nike for a street hockey program. One school already has sent back its equipment to Nike, because of concerns about the company’s labor practices, and another two schools are moving in that direction.

San Francisco: In March, Global Exchange organized actions around the opening of a new Nike Town store. During a Global Exchange press conference, San Francisco Labor Council Secretary Walter Johnson called for the AFL-CIO to initiate a national boycott against Nike products until the company begins paying its workers a living wage and treating them according to international labor standards. Medea Benjamin, of Global Exchange, said, "Nike sweatshop workers in Indonesia make $2.20 a day—well below the livable wage, yet Nike continues to pour money into bloated megastores, into its CEO’s $5.2 billion hoard, and on multi-million dollar promotional contracts with rich sports stars." Global Exchange is continuing to organize weekly leafleting at the San Francisco store.

Sacramento, CA: Sacramentans for International Labor Rights conducted a Nike leafleting action at the Arden Fair Mall on April 19. Demonstrators walked through the mall wearing white lab coats emblazened: "Nike does it with starvation wages!"

Orange County, CA: The Associated Students at the University of California, Irvine have voted 25-1 to join the Nike boycott and thus make their school the first major university in the U.S. to say no to Nike.

NIKE TOUR, May 2-23: Campaign for Labor Rights and Press for Change organized a speaking tour in Canada and the U.S. with an Indonesian woman fired by a Nike contractor when she organized for her rights. Cicih Sukaesih met with thousands of local activists. The Canadian portion of the tour was generously funded by the Canadian Auto Workers Social Justice Fund and by the Alberta Federation of Labor.

Nike has hired former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young as part of an effort to counter criticism of working conditions in the company’s Asian factories. Young and his GoodWorks International group are to review Nike’s code of conduct. Most labor rights activists and many articles in the mainstream press have expressed doubt whether the Young contract will amount to anything more than yet another public relations ploy by Nike.

INTERNATIONAL MOBILIZATION, October 18: Campaign for Labor Rights and Press for Change are coordinating with groups around the world for an international mobilization on October 18. Local activists are urged to organize leafleting at a store selling Nike products in their community.