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The Oregonian
Nike taken to task for exec's letter
Jan 30, 1999
Activists ask the company to punish a vice president who accused some labor groups of seeking to oust Vietnam's communist government
By Jeff Manning of The Oregonian staff
The four activist groups that signed on to President Clinton's anti-sweatshop initiative blasted Nike Inc. on Friday for what they termed the "anti-democratic and authoritarian values" espoused by a senior company executive.
The four groups asked that Nike fire or otherwise sanction Joseph Ha, a Nike vice president, as well as publicly disavow the sentiments Ha expressed in a Jan. 11 letter to the Vietnamese government. Ha, one of two special assistants to Nike Chairman Phil Knight, accused activists who criticized conditions in Nike's Vietnamese factories of also seeking to oust the country's communist government.
"It was an egregious statement," said Michael Posner, executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. "It obviously flies in the face of what we're trying to do" at the Apparel Industry Partnership.
The partnership is a pioneering effort by industry and activists to establish better working conditions and a system of independent monitoring in overseas clothing factories. Some observers think that by accusing activist groups of political motives, Ha is effectively discrediting and possibly endangering the groups that -- under tentative guidelines of the partnership -- will be monitoring factories.
"If Nike does not remedy this, it has disqualified itself as a company committed to work with civil society to protect labor rights," said Pharis Harvey, executive director of the International Labor Rights Fund and principal author of Friday's letter.
Nike appeared to distance itself from Ha's statements.
"We at Nike live in a democracy," said Maria Eitel, vice president for corporate responsibility. "We want everyone to have the kind of opportunity we've had in the United States."
Eitel added that Nike's Washington, D.C., lobbyist, Brad Figel, had told officials at the Vietnamese embassy that Ha's statements don't represent the company's position.
The heated criticism is of particular interest because it comes from four respected, mainstream activist groups that have maintained open communications with Nike. The International Labor Rights Fund, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, the National Consumers League and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights stuck with the Apparel Industry Partnership even after union members and some other activist groups backed out. They thus became the closest thing to allies that Nike had in the activist community.
Posner maintains Nike did as much as any other member to salvage an agreement.
"I give them credit for being at the negotiating table," he said. "That's a risk a lot of other companies are running from."
Other corporate members of the partnership include Reebok International Ltd. and Liz Claiborne.
But Ha's letter threatens to undo some of Nike's progress, raising the image of an American corporation cozying up to an authoritarian regime and playing to its image of paranoia and xenophobia. Ha wrote that labor activists' "ultimate goal is political rather than economic. They target Nike because Nike is a high-profile company and a major creator of jobs in Vietnam. Nevertheless, this is the first step for their political goal, which is to create a so-called democratic society on the U.S. model."
In contrast, Nike has no political agenda, Ha added.
"A nation should not necessarily apply the model of another nation," he wrote. "Each nation has its own internal political system. Nike believes completely in this."
Unbeknownst to him, Ha's letter was reprinted by a Vietnamese government newspaper, and translations reached the United States.
Harvey maintained that Nike's response to Ha's letter isn't good enough.
"The damage that Ha has done on the ground in Vietnam remains unchanged by these statements," he wrote.
The groups want Nike to tell Vietnam that it "values the work of human rights monitors."
They also want Nike to recognize the work of one activist in particular, Vietnamese American Thuyen Nguyen. They asked that Nike officials accompany Nguyen to meetings with Vietnamese officials.
Ha apparently was referring to Nguyen in his Jan. 11 letter when said "a Vietnamese refugee" was among the so-called subversive activists.
"Nike has fingered him as someone who is trying to undermine the political system over there," Harvey said.
Posner said a swift, decisive response is vital for the health of the Apparel Industry Partnership. "What Nike does in the next couple of days and weeks is critical," he said.
Nguyen, reached at his Washington, D.C. office, said Ha's letter has already had the effect he thinks Ha hoped for. His network of sources in Vietnam are no longer willing to help him, he said.
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