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Nike's Problems Are Not Limited to Foreign Labor
Editorial
April 14, 1997, Monday, ALL EDITIONSBob Herbert's recent column could have been better spent addressing the problems with Nike shoes here in this country rather than Vietnam.
Certainly no one condones the abuse of the workers who make these shoes overseas, but the practice of paying those exorbitant fees to already rich athletes to entice the children of the ghettos to place such unrealistic value in owning $ 150 shoes which they obviously can't afford is just as bad.
Phil Knight, chief executive officer of Nike, should re-evaluate his core values and try to understand just how Nike is contributing to a loss of the worth of material things. There is no need to abuse foreign workers, any of whom make 20 cents an hour for their labor, but there is no need to wreck the value system of our youth just to be able to pay millions of dollars a year to any group of people for their endorsement. Kenneth E. Lewis Sr. Greensboro
Nike in the News