Copyright 1997 South China Morning Post Ltd.
Misleading report about factory conditions
Letters To The Editors; Pg. 18
June 17, 1997 South China Morning Post
Nike has provided misinformation to the public in its criticism of Garry Trudeau, the creator of the Doonesbury comic strip.
In a letter to the South China Morning Post on June 6, Nike stated its workers earn twice the per capita income of rural Vietnam. Nike, however, left out an important fact: Nike factories are not in rural Vietnam. Four of its factories are in Dong Nai, just outside Ho Chi Minh City, and one factory is in the city itself. The per capita income in the Ho Chi Minh City area is US$925 (about HK$7,159) according to the World Bank. The entry level wage at Nike factories is only US$480 per year.
Nike also claimed that workers in Vietnam can save enough of their salary to send money home to their families. In March, Vietnam Labour Watch interviewed 35 workers at four Nike factories in Vietnam and none of those workers save enough money to send home.
Nike also claimed that workers receive free medical care, English lessons and training classes. Nike workers in Vietnam do not receive free English lessons and training classes, nor do they receive free medical care. All factory workers pay for their own health insurance, which is deducted from their monthly paycheque.
The only benefit that Nike factories provide to workers in Vietnam is a subsidised lunch programme.
Nike's comments are just another attempt to discredit its critics through misinformation. Nike has often used this approach in dealing with public exposure of its overseas labour practices. On May 23, Liz Dolan, vice -president of communication at Nike, distributed a letter to the press accusing Vietnam Labour Watch (VLW) of releasing an inaccurate report about Nike factory workers in Vietnam being laid off.
Vietnam Labour Watch has not published any report or press release about this issue. VLW provided information to the press in April about a strike of 1,300 workers at a Nike factory and a report on Nike labour practices in Vietnam in March 1997.
In May, Nike factories in Vietnam discontinued the practice of paying workers below the minimum wage for the first 90 days of employment. The company, however, continued to claim that its factories did not violate Vietnam's minimum wage law in 1996 and 1997. VLW's March report provides employee pay stubs which document the practice of paying a sub-minimum wage beyond the legal period. A central recommendation to Nike in that report was to get rid of this practice. VLW is glad that Nike has implemented one of its recommendations.
Nike even provided misinformation about its overseas factories to its own shareholders. By September last year, many Vietnamese newspapers had published articles about 15 women workers who were hit on the head by a Nike factory supervisor. But at a shareholders meeting at Nike's headquarters, its chairman Phil Knight minimised the story into an incident involving only one worker who was hit on the arm by a supervisor.
THUYEN NGUYEN
for Vietnam Labour Watch
New York
Nike in the News