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What did you do to Nike’s workers?

In 2011, you were part of Team Sweat and you made a difference.

Because of three extremely successful research/organizing trips to Indonesia in February, June and September, we had an explosion of exciting activity this year and it could not have happened without you.

Here is what your support helped us accomplish:

* We successfully fought to get Karyana, the union chairman at Nike’s PT Chang Shin factory, back to work after he was illegally fired in an attempt by the management to break the newly formed union at the plant.

* We successfully fought to get the management at Nike’s PT Nikomas factory to admit that forced overtime and wage cheating is, in fact, happening.  After pushing for months through the management’s outright denials and their campaign of intimidation of the union leaders that bravely shared the information with us, we were sent the following on September 9, 2011.

“We deeply regret that the company’s preliminary investigation found merit to the allegations, and we take responsibility for the actions made by some of our supervisors/managers.  Our first priority is to protect the rights of our employees and take decisive action to rectify their grievances.”

To address this case, Nike and the factory initially suggested to the union that they allow the Fair Labor Association to do the assessment of forced overtime and the amount of wages cheated.  Nike sits on the board of the Fair Labor Association, something the union had no knowledge of.  We worked with the union to press for a truly independent third party and together we won that as well.  The assessment is now being conducted by the Akatiga Social Research Institute.  This case is potentially worth millions and millions of dollars in back wages to Nike workers at PT Nikomas.  We now wait to see the results of the assessment.

* We are currently preparing reports to present to Nike on two additional factories in Indonesia where workers have been cheated of severance pay and back wages.

* We successfully fought to stop the dumping and burning of Nike shoe rubber in an Indonesian village.  After publishing a report on the dumping and burning of shoe rubber from Nike’s PT ADIS factory, our Indonesian based team returned to the site two months after the fact and it was cleaned up and to date, no new incidents have occurred at this site.

* We conducted more than a dozen small and large group trainings in Indonesia for Nike workers, union leaders and labor-friendly NGOs.  The focus of the majority of these trainings was on the concept of a living wage vs. the minimum wage and on the ideals of fair trade.

* We took part in a panel discussion on the state of labor in Indonesia for the Jakarta Foreign Correspondents Club.  The JFCC is a non-profit organization for international journalists in Indonesia.  The event was attended by more than thirty journalists, staff from Indonesian-based NGOs, and staff from embassies and consulates from a number of countries.

* We met with and have continued to dialogue with the Indonesian Minister of Manpower about the living and working conditions for Nike’s workers in Indonesia.  We are in ongoing discussion about serving the Minister in an official capacity as a special adviser on US affairs and are currently planning a week-long training for Ministry of Manpower staff which we hope to make happen during December 2011.

* We brought our grassroots education program, “Behind the Swoosh: Sweatshops and Social Justice” to almost 40 schools in the United States and Indonesia.  Through these events, we educated thousands of students about our work and our goal to make Nike fair trade.  One of the high points of this year’s education campaign was presenting the keynote address at the Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice in Washington, DC.  This was an event that brought together more than 1,200 students from Jesuit high schools and colleges from across the nation.  The feedback from this event has been overwhelmingly positive and we look forward to visiting a number of Jesuit schools in 2012 as a result.

* We increased our online supporter base to more than 13,000 people via www.teamsweat.org and www.facebook.com/teamsweat.  Our supporter base now includes people from the United States, Indonesia, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Australia, Austria, Malaysia, Germany, Singapore, Japan, France, Italy, Spain, India, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and Turkey.

* We worked with the Associated Press, The Oregonian and the BBC to publish stories on Nike’s labor abuses, some of which circled the globe.  We also self-published dozens of articles, reports and videos on the Huffington Post, on www.teamsweat.org, and on www.facebook.com/teamsweat.

* We submitted a short list of demands to every member of the Nike Board of Directors for consideration at their November meeting.  The list included a request for wage disclosure at all of Nike’s partner factories; a request to have Hannah Jones, Nike VP of Corporate Responsibility, join a Team Sweat research trip to Indonesia in January; and a request to give a 90-minute presentation to members of the Nike Board, as well as the Corporate Responsibility and Sourcing divisions.

Yes!  We got all this done and none of it would have happened without you!

Can you help us keep the momentum going in 2012?

All of the successes listed above hinge on having first person contact with Nike workers.  To ensure that we continue this first person contact, we have planned for and budgeted $18,000 to fund three research trips to Indonesia in 2012.  This amount covers travel, accommodations, staff, meetings, filming, photography, etc.

Can you give Team Sweat an early Christmas gift of $20, $40, $60, $80, $100.. to make 2012 an even more effective year of advocacy in our fight to Make Nike Fair Trade?

You can make a secure donation online right now by clicking DONATE NOW!

If you would rather mail a check, you can make it payable to Educating for Justice and send it to:

Educating for Justice
1201 Third Avenue, Suite A
Spring Lake, NJ 07762

Thanks in advance for your contribution and your ongoing support of Team Sweat!
Peace,

Jim Keady