Vietnam Labor Watch
1300 Nike workers in Vietnam strike, refusing to yield to company's intimidation
Penny-an-hour wage increase request rebuffed.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- April 28, 1997Despite Nike's recent signing of President Clinton's Apparel Industry Agreement, it is still business as usual for Nike factory workers in Vietnam. According to our interviews with officials at the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Confederation of Labor and factory workers, on April 25 the SamYang Vina Company, a Nike contractor in HCMC, threatened to fire workers from the gluing, sole, and finishing plants unless they agreed to the company's terms. Workers were brought to the factory office, and told to sign either the management's contract or a letter of resignation. A few workers were intimidated and signed the contract. About 1300 refused to submit to such threats and went on strike instead. This intimidation took place while Nike expatriates managers were in the factory. Such despicable actions by a Nike contractor give able witness to the non-enforcement of Nike's Code of Conduct in Nike's overseas factories.
The Nike contractor forced striking employees to remain behind locked gates within the factory's grounds and the lunch area, preventing them from leaving to contact officials of the HCMC Confederation of Labor or to notify other employees. Since the beginning of April, Sam Yang and Nike representatives have been negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with the HCMC Confederation of Labor. As negotiations have not yet concluded, Vietnam labor officials expressed shock and dismay at such underhanded attempts by a Nike contractor to force workers into signing an unapproved contract while collective bargaining is still underway.
The main subject of this dispute is wages. Workers have requested a one cent per hour increase to their current salary of $47 per month, and the Nike contractor is offering less than half a cent. This contract dispute over 8 cents per day per worker stands in stark contrast to Michael Jordan's contract with Nike equal to roughly $ 56,000 per day. Other issues under dispute include excessive and illegal overtime, compensation for working with hazardous materials, and the lack of emergency medical services for night shift workers.
Sam Yang is a 100% foreign-owned company in Vietnam which makes shoes exclusively for Nike. Sam Yang is notorious for its many labor abuses which have been widely publicized in the Vietnamese press. In a March report, Vietnam Labor Watch provided company paystubs as proof that this Nike contractor systematically cheats workers out of overtime and holiday wages as well as denies workers the legal minimum wage during their first three months of employment. These paystubs were given to Nike representatives in Vietnam and to Nike's auditor, Ernst & Young. A Sam Yang supervisor hit 15 workers in March 1996 and was tried and convicted of criminal abuse last July. Workers at Sam Yang have conducted repeated strikes protesting the treatment of employees. The previous strike at Sam Yang happened last month and called for a consistent and legal overtime policy and hazardous compensation.
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