Highlights of the Vietnam Labor Watch report on Nike factories
The workers are not making a livable wage. They make an average of 20 cents per hour, or $1.60 a day from their factory jobs, but the cost for eating three simple meals is $2.10 a day. Ninety percent of the workers we interviewed told us they received extra help in terms of money, food or housing from their families to make ends meet.
Workers cannot go to the bathroom more than once per 8-hour shift and they cannot drink water more than twice per shift.
It is a common occurrence for workers to faint from exhaustion, heat, fumes and poor nutrition during their shifts.
Verbal abuse and sexual harassment are frequent, and corporal punishment is often used. One day during our two week visit, 56 women workers at a Nike factory were forced to run around the factory’s premise in the hot sun because they weren’t wearing regulation shoes. 12 fainted during the run and were taken to the hospital. This was particularly painful to the Vietnamese because it occurred on International Women’s Day, an important holiday when Vietnam honors women.
Other forms of punishment used are forcing workers to stand in the sun (sun-drying), kneel on the floor with hands up in the air, write down their mistakes over and over again like parochial school children, clean the toilet and sweep factory floors. In November 1996, 100 workers at the Pouchen factory were forced to stand in the sun for an hour because one worker had spilled a tray of fruit on an altar.
Women workers have complained about frequent sexual harassment from foreign supervisors. Even in broad daylight, in front of other workers, these supervisors try to touch, rub or grab their buttocks or chests. One supervisor told a female factory worker that it is a common custom for men in his country to greet women they like by grabbing their behinds.
Health care is inadequate. At the Sam Yang factory, with 6000 employees, one doctor works only two hours a day but the factory operates 20 hours a day.
We found numerous examples of workers making below the minimum wage of $45 per month, and have pay stubs as evidence. Moreover, all 35 workers we interviewed in depth said they received below minimum wage for their first 90 days at the factory, a clear violation of the minimum wage law.
Forced and excessive overtime to meet high quotas is the norm. While Vietnam’s labor laws say the maximum yearly overtime is 200 hours, on average Nike workers are forced to work 500+ hours per year. If workers refuse, they are punished or receive a warning. After three warnings, they’re fired.
Workers say they do not get the legally mandated compensation for overtime wages, night shift wages or Sunday wages, and their pay stubs confirm this. Over 60% of the workers we interviewed complained that when they did not meet their daily quota, they were forced to work extra hours until reaching the quota – with no overtime pay at all.
Almost all the workers we interviewed told us that they had lost weight since working at Nike factories. They complained of poor nutrition, frequent headaches and general fatigue.
Other non-Nike shoe factories we visited in Vietnam pay higher wages and have much better working conditions.
Given the distressing conditions, the relationship between factory managers and workers in the Nike factories is extremely tense. We believe that if this antagonistic relationship continues, there could well be very serious clashes.
