September 19th, 2011
Hey Nike Workers!
Did you know that last year was a good year for Nike CEO, Mark Parker? Yes, it was a VERY good year.
The April 10, 2011 edition of the NY Times reported that Mr. Parker’s total compensation for fiscal year 2010 was $13,118,834.00.
If we divide that number by 365 days, that means that Mr. Parker averaged $35,942.00 in pay per day in 2010.
He was paid $35,942 per day and he never had to work a hot press or operate a sewing machine to meet the production targets. He was paid $35,942 per day and he was never screamed at by his supervisors to meet the production targets. He was paid $35,942 per day and he never had to throw his exhausted body on a thin mat on a cement floor after working a full shift, plus overtime, to meet the production targets.
Is that fair?
Do you know how Mr. Parker makes his millions of dollars each year?
He sells Nike shoes, Nike apparel and Nike equipment.
And who makes all the Nike shoes, Nike apparel and Nike equipment?
That’s right, you do!
I would say that makes you very important to Nike. Do you see how without you and your hard work, Nike can make no money?
Do you feel like Nike pays you like you are very important?
They sure pay Mr. Parker like he’s important.
The $13,118,834.00 compensation that Mr. Parker made in 2010 was an 84% increase from what he made the year before. An 84% increase is a lot of money!
The basic wage for a Nike worker in Tangerang was 1.243.000RP in 2010. Could you imagine if Nike workers wages increased 84% like Mr. Parker’s?
Now is the time for Nike workers to fight to Make Nike Fairtrade and get yourselves the wages you deserve!
Peace, Jim Keady
September 9th, 2011
I spent the early part of today on the hunt for Nike scrap shoe rubber. For those of you familiar with my work, you know that I have been engaging Nike on this issue for more than a decade. For years, scrap shoe rubber from Nike factories in Indonesia was being dumped and burned in villages, releasing horrible toxins into the air, soil and water table. In 2009, Nike created their “Footwear Waste Management System” that was to be put in place at all of their shoe factories. Within months of the system being put in place, I was given a tour of three footwear facilities and shown how it was being implemented. I took a “we’ll see” approach. Needless to say, I found scrap shoe rubber being dumped and burned within six months of my factory tours. You can see the pictures of the burning Nike rubber here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-keady/the-dumping-and-burning-o_b_643763.html
In 2008, Nike also announced their “Considered Design” initiative. Mark Parker, CEO of Nike Inc., made bold statements about the significance of Considered Design. He said, “I see unlimited possibility with Considered and the potential for us to be a game changer. It is helping us to be a better, more responsible, more profitable company. I envision a time when all our products are closed loop using sustainable, low carbon design.”
If you look on Nike’s website, they share the following about Considered Design.
Considered Design is Nike’s ongoing commitment to design without compromise – either to performance or the planet. It is a continually progressing standard, applied every day to everything we do.
As an ever-evolving standard for both innovation and sustainability, it’s applied every day and to everything we do. By continually raising that standard, we envision a future where the shoes you wear today become the shoes, shirts or equipment you use tomorrow. This “closed loop” manufacturing process, where nothing is wasted and everything is kept in play, is not just wishful thinking, it’s the future.
To reflect our commitment, Nike has established company-wide targets for Considered Design. By 2011 all Nike footwear newly developed, coming out of U.S. headquarters will meet or exceed Considered Design baseline standards.
In implementing the Considered Design program, Nike made the following commitment on waste reduction.
At Nike, waste is any product or material used in the supply chain that does not ultimately end up in somebody’s closet. Considered design seeks ways to prevent the initial creation of waste, and where unavoidable, find ways to recycle and reuse.
Well… Here is what I found today.
September 8th, 2011
Speaking with Nike apparel workers
Today I met with workers who are producing apparel for Nike – “jackets worn by soccer coaches” as I was told. Of course this hit close to home and I thought of the dozens and dozens of coaching friends of mine who don those jackets during the fall and winter months. The women I spoke with are employed at a production plant with approximately 4,000 workers. They work Monday to Friday, sometimes Saturday. Their workday starts at 7am and officially ends at 4pm, but there is usually 2 hours of overtime everyday. They are given one meal at the factory, but the quality is always bad and workers consistently complain. There are buses provided for transportation, but the bus routes do not run to some areas and workers are not given transportation allowances.
One of the workers I spoke with explained her job on the production line. Hour after hour, she sews closed the seams of jackets and then sews the standard black and red Nike label into the lower inside of the jacket liners. She has been doing this tedious work for eight years now. Three years ago, her production quota was 40 pieces per hour. It is now 60 pieces per hour. I asked her how she gets 20 more pieces done – “I just work faster.” I asked her if it is difficult to meet the target and if she felt any stress. “Stress cannot describe what I feel,” she replied.
I asked her if she knew who was responsible for setting the production targets. She said, “the management.” I told her, “No. It is Nike.” I told her that Nike places the order, that Nike sets the delivery date, and that Nike sets the price. She sat for a moment and took in this new information. I could see the wheels in motion in her mind behind a distant look she had in her eyes. When she spoke, she said, “Now I understand the cycle of oppression. Nike puts pressure on the management, the management puts pressure on the supervisors, and the supervisors put pressure on us.” I smiled and quietly replied, “Yes, that is the cycle.”
Now for her part in helping Nike generate more than $20,000,000,000.00 in annual revenues, she is paid the minimum wage, Rp.1.280.000 ($150) per month. She told me it is not nearly enough for her to meet her basic needs. “We would need three times the minimum wage to have a decent life,” she shared.
I have heard this lament before from workers, hundreds of times. When I do, it always makes me remember the public statements of Nike Chairman, Phil Knight and former Nike Director, Vada Manager. Knight was asked by a reporter from PBS if he felt that his factory workers were making a living wage, “Absolutely,” he opined, “no question about it.” Mr. Manager is on the record saying, “We (Nike) have a code that applies globally and that provides for wages that far surpass regional or national minimums.”
Workers absolutely making living wages.
Workers making wages that far surpass the minimum wage.
As the Indonesians would say… “Bohong!” (a big lie)
And thus, the fight continues.
Peace, Jim Keady
September 6th, 2011
Pak Bambang, Chairman SPN
Today I met with the Chairman and Officers from the Serikat Pekerja Nasional (SPN). The SPN trade union represents tens of thousands of workers from seven of Nike’s Indonesian factories. The majority of our discussion focused on the issue of forced overtime (jam molor) at PT Nikomas, Nike’s largest shoe factory in Indonesia.
I documented this violation of Nike’s Code of Conduct and Indonesian labor law back in February 2011. You can read my initial report at:
In response to the publishing of my February report, the management at Nikomas put significant pressure on the union leaders at the factory. This pressure led to the factory union sending me a letter to retract the information they had initially shared with me. The management at Nikomas also sent me a letter saying that all of the facts I had published were incorrect and that there was no forced overtime at PT Nikomas.
When I visited Indonesia in June 2011, I followed up on this case with the district level leadership from SPN. They had conducted their own investigation in response to my report. In my discussion with them, they corroborated the facts that I document in February.
I shared this fact with Nike and was told by Nike USA that they would follow up on the case.
Today during my meeting with the SPN leadership, I was told that on July 25-26th, Nike, in collaboration with the SPN national union, sent two teams to PT Nikomas. One team was sent in officially and a second team was sent in undercover. It was reported to me that both of these teams found that the forced overtime was in fact happening. They also found that workers were being forced to pay bribes to gain employment and that supervisors were verbally abusive to workers.
It is now an established fact that Nike workers were cheated out of millions of dollars in overtime pay (potentially tens of millions). On Thursday of this week, the national leadership of SPN will be meeting with the local management to discuss how to resolve the case and get these Nike workers the justice they deserve.
I have also been told by Nike USA that they will be share their official report on this matter with me by the end of this week.
I will update you further when new information on this case emerges.
Peace, Jim Keady
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