Copyright 1997 Journal of Commerce, Inc.
Nike factory in Vietnam apologizes to employees for breaking labor law
BY TIM SHORROCK
July 7, 1997, Monday Journal of Commerce
A Korean-owned factory in Vietnam that makes shoes for Nike Inc. recently issued a public apology to its workers for violating a Vietnamese law limiting overtime work.
The notice at Sam Yang Vietnam Co. identified 290 employees who worked more than the legal maximum of 200 hours of overtime a year in 1996. Sam Yang, a Nike contractor in Ho Chi Minh City, employs 6,400.
""We would like to apologize and compensate them for the violation,'' the company said in the handout. It also stated that Sam Yang had eliminated a practice of paying trainees less than the minimum wage and is planning to have a full-time doctor to staff the factory's clinic.
The letter underscores the kinds of pressures multinational corporations face from Vietnam's government-backed unions.
Thuyen Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American critic of Nike, said the statement proves the accuracy of a March 1997 report he wrote after he toured Nike's factories in Vietnam.
""This is clearly a response to what I wrote, especially about not having a doctor at the plant,'' he said.
Mr. Nguyen runs a group called Vietnam Labor Watch that monitors labor conditions in Vietnam and translated the Sam Yang document. It was obtained from Hoang Thi Khanh, president of the Ho Chi Minh City Confederation of Labor, which represents most of Nike's work force in Vietnam.
Vada Manager, Nike's spokesman on Asian labor issues, verified the accuracy of Sam Yang's notice.
""This demonstrates that Sam Yang complies with the law and Nike's code of conduct,'' he said. Nike and its subcontractors work closely with Vietnam's government and its labor confederation to ensure compliance with Vietnamese law, he said.
""We're working with this factory very, very diligently to make sure it meets the law and our code,'' Mr. Manager said. He added that some of Mr. Nguyen's earlier allegations ""had no merit whatsoever.''
The Sam Yang statement appears to back Mr. Nguyen in several areas, however.
In his March report, Mr. Nguyen said he found violations of laws covering overtime wages and was shown ""pay stubs with such irregularities in compensation that they suggest a systematic form of wage cheating.''
Ms. Khanh, the union official, said she recently confronted Sam Yang's management when her union discovered the company was paying workers a below- minimum starting wage and backdating pay stubs to show its compliance with a new minimum wage law that went into effect April 1.
In its statement, Sam Yang said it had ""eliminated the practice of paying workers the training wage, and the company will pay the minimum wage from the first day of employment according to the law.''
It also mentioned several other problems addressed by Mr. Nguyen, including the lack of medical care and the amount and quality of food available in the company's cafeteria.
Former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young recently wrote a report for Nike on its Asian factories.
During his tour, which included a visit to Sam Yang, Mr. Young said he found ""no evidence or pattern of widespread or systematic abuse or mistreatment of workers.''
He attributed many of the problems at Sam Yang and other factories to cultural differences between Korean and Taiwanese managers and Vietnamese workers.
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