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Abuse in Nike Factories in Vietnam
March 27, 1997, Thursday
Many factory workers who make Nike Inc. shoes in Vietnam are paid low wages, suffer abuse and even corporal punishment, a group of human rights and labor activists charged Thursday.
Also, some workers making Nike shoes in Indonesia are paid below minimum wage, they said.
The group, which included representatives of Vietnam Labor Watch and Press for Change, held a news conference in New York City to publicize their findings.
Thuyen Nguyen of Vietnam Labor Watch, who just returned from a trip to Vietnam, said he found workers at factories contracted by Nike making less than minimum wage in the first three months of employment.
Some are limited to one trip to the bathroom and two drinks of water per shift, and verbal abuse, sexual harassment and corporal punishment are common, he said. On one occasion, 56 women were forced to run around a factory because they weren't wearing regulation shoes and 12 fainted, he said.
A Nike executive said he could not confirm Nguyen's findings but said the company welcomes and works with independent observers to monitor, train and improve working conditions overseas.
"Bring us information we can use, and we'll do our damndest to correct any situations that are wrong," said Dusty Kidd, director of labor practices for the Beaverton, Oregon-based recreational shoe giant. "We're looking for ways to make it better."
The Nike executive confirmed the incident involving the 56 women, which he called "totally unacceptable," and said the supervisor was suspended the same day.
Nguyen said he visited all five factories that do contract work for Nike in Vietnam.
"It's unconscionable," he said. "Nike has zero tolerance for poorly made shoes; it should have zero tolerance for physical abuse, humiliation, corporal punishment and sexual abuse of its workers."
Nguyen's findings are being reviewed by an auditor, who has not yet returned to Nike with his findings, Kidd said.
Kidd said Nike has more than 400 factories in 35 countries and a code of conduct it works to instill at each location.
Nike has used contract labor in Vietnam for almost two years, with 30,000 to 35,000 employees, he said. "We think the standards are going up. We are in those factories every day," he said.
In Indonesia, more than a quarter of the workers made less than the monthly minimum wage, said Jeff Ballinger of Press for Change, who released results of a study of 14 Nike contractors by the Indonesian Sports Shoe Monitoring Network. The network is a coalition of activist groups.
Nike has used Indonesian labor since the late 1980s, Kidd said, employing about 130,000 workers. He said some workers may get less than minimum wage due to dishonest local accounting practices, but he questioned the study's numbers and said Nike was auditing each factory.
"It is an honest attempt," he said.
Nike recently hired Andrew Young, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former mayor of Atlanta, to evaluate its code of conduct. Young is planning a trip to Asia in the next few weeks, Kidd said.
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