Nike Establishes Labor Practices Department
BEAVERTON, Ore., Oct. 3 /CNW/ - NIKE Inc. recently established a new department with a mandate to continue to evolve its monitoring of subcontracted manufacturing facilities and continue to upgrade conditions for workers in subcontractor factories around the world.
The creation of a dedicated Labor Practices Department is a further step in NIKE's ongoing commitment to have products made only in the best facilities with the best working conditions in the sports and fitness industry.
The department will be headed by Dusty Kidd, and staffed with managers and inspectors based in production centers around the world. Kidd, a long-time NIKE employee, has held positions in marketing communications and business management in Asia Pacific. He has worked as a professional observer of manufacturing environments for almost 20 years. Working with Ernst & Young, he set-up the first ongoing system of independent monitoring of subcontracted consumer products manufacturing for NIKE in 1994. Combined with a worldwide force of more than 1,000 NIKE employees working with subcontractors in more than 30 countries, this ongoing monitoring system is the most comprehensive in the industry.
The new Labor Practices Department will work closely with NIKE's production staff, and with production partners in source countries around the world. Specific emphasis will be on Indonesia, China and Vietnam, which together account for 75% of NIKE's worldwide athletic footwear production.
Inspectors and managers will provide dedicated monitoring and make recommendations on the following:
- Compensation issues (minimum and overtime wage allowances);
- Benefits (medical, housing, paid leaves, loan assistance and other provisions of employment);
- Work environment issues;
- Recruitment and hiring policies;
- Overtime policies;
- Worker-management relationships and communications;
- Environmental issues;
- Supervision of independent monitoring systems.
Other labor practice initiatives in which the new department will be involved include NIKE's participation in President Clinton's coalition on fair labor practices; NIKE's membership in Business for Social Responsibility; and NIKE's ongoing dialogue with concerned nongovernmental organizations.
Following up on NIKE chairman Philip H. Knight's commitment to broaden the scope on independent observation of labor practices made at the annual shareholders meeting last month, the department will be inviting independent third party observers to visit NIKE contractor facilities during the coming year.
``Every year we continue to raise the bar,'' Knight said. ``First, by having our own production people in the factories on a daily basis, then with Ernst & Young audits, and now with a group of NIKE employees whose sole focus will be to help make things better for workers who make NIKE products. In labor practices as in sport, we at NIKE believe There Is No Finish Line.''
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