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DIARY
By HUBERT B. HERRING
April 13, 2026, Sunday, Late Edition - FinalFIGHTING SWEATSHOPS
What Exactly Is a Nike?
What makes some Nikes cost more than $100? Well, there's a little for the leather, a little more for whatever space-age material they make the soles out of these days, a few million for the superstar athletes who promote them and -- oh, yes -- a few pennies for the people who actually put them together. Nike has taken a lot of flak lately for that last part of the equation, with accusations flying that workers in Vietnam, Indonesia and elsewhere are treated inhumanely and paid starvation wages. For the last month or so, Nike stock has been battered, in part because of hints of production cutbacks. Last week, a Presidential task force that includes human rights groups and labor unions, as well as Nike and other companies, agreed on a code of conduct -- including a maximum 60-hour workweek -- for American-owned clothing factories the world over. The goal: no more sweatshops. The next hurdle: enforcing the code.
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