Check out these students and faculty from Wilmington College (OH) speaking out AGAINST Nike’s sweatshop abuses and FOR living wages and union contracts for Nike’s factory workers.
Check out these students from Rutgers University-Camden (NJ) speaking out AGAINST Nike’s sweatshop abuses and FOR living wages and union contracts for Nike’s factory workers.
Check out these “Men for Others” from Fordham Prep HS in NYC speaking out for worker justice and living wages and against Nike’s sweatshop abuses.
Team Sweat:
Below is a letter to Nike CEO, Mark Parker from Sarah Meyers, a swimmer and student at St. Martin’s University in Lacey, WA.
Have you sent your email to Mr. Parker yet?
His email address is mark.parker@nike.com.
Peace, Jim Keady
Mr. Parker,
My name is Sarah Meyers and I am a student at Saint Martin’s University. Yesterday afternoon I attended a presentation by Jim Keady and I was amazed at what he had to say, and amazed at the proof he brought with him. Jim informed me that out of the 6 billion people on this earth, only 1% has a college education. I am on my way toward being in that lucky 1% of humanity.
I was wondering if you K N E W of the power you, and Nike, has to change thousands and thousands of people’s lives. Do you know?
Do you even know what a DOLLAR is worth to some people? To most people? To thousands of your employees? (and YES they are Nike’s employees because they work in a giant building with NIKE on it, and build all of Nike’s products etc) A dollar is a huge deal to them. It’s their daily bread. They get to spend one per day. What would you do if you could only spend one dollar per day? Do you think you couldn’t do it? Neither could I. You are forcing this neighborhood, these families, to do something impossible.
I have talked to my swim team coach back home, and we will not be purchasing Nike swim gear until your company stops the lies, and pays your employees what they are worth as human beings.
Sincerely,
Sarah C. Meyers
|
Foreign garment buyers urged to contribute to worker wages |
| By Dilshani Samaraweera
|
| Foreign garment buyers are being asked to pay a few cents more for garments bought from Asian countries, including Sri Lanka – to help pay decent wages to garment workers. Worker representative groups in major Asian garment producing countries are launching a campaign called the ‘Asian Floor Wage Campaign’ in October, targeting international garment buying companies.
The campaign will also ask for support from US and EU bases trade unions and consumer movements as well. Trade unions in Sri Lanka say western garment retailers and international apparel brands can afford to pay a few cents extra for workers. “Garment retailers and brands have such big profit margins, they can definitely afford to pay a few cents extra to help garment workers in Asian countries. Just as an example, if you take a shirt that is sold at US$ 22.50 to US consumers, 75% of that price is profit for the retailer. If the shirt is made in Sri Lanka the labour cost is only 2.8% of the price. Up to the CIF value it is only 23.1% of the retail price,” said the President of the Progress Union, Palitha Athukorala. The Progress Union is part of the trade union and NGO grouping called ALaRM that is heading the Asian Floor Wage campaign in Sri Lanka. “We are asking international garment buyers to pay a little extra, to be given directly to the workers, not to the garment factories,” said Mr Athukorala. ALaRM says it is directly targeting foreign buyers of garments because most local garment factories are already operating under shrinking profit margins. “We are directly targeting the big international buyers because even in Sri Lanka most garment factories have very small profit margins. They have been forced by buyers to cut their selling prices,” said Mr Athukorala. “Garment workers in Sri Lanka are mainly women. So they are caretakers of their own families and in many cases, their extended families as well. Wages most of the time are not enough even for a single person to eat three square meals and also cover other costs like rent and transport,” said Ms Chamila Thushari, from Da Bindu, a women’s group. The Asian Floor Wage proposed by the campaign sets a standard basic wage for garment workers across Asia, based on cost of living. It is currently calculated at 475 international dollars (using the purchasing power parity method of the World Bank) for Asan countries. Based on a floor wage calculation for Sri Lanka, ALaRM says garment workers should be getting a basic monthly wage of Rs 16,705.75 (US $ 145.66), excluding overtime payments. But at this point, say women’s groups and trade unions, most garment sector workers earn, at most, about Rs 11,000, with over time work added. ALaRM says international garment buyers should cover the wage gap by paying a few cents extra to workers producing clothing in Sri Lanka. Big western retailers like Walmart, Carrefour, Lidle, Aldi, Tesco, J C Penny’s and Marks and Spencer, control large shares of the western garment retail markets. This gives them bigger bargaining power on how much they pay local factories for garments they buy from Sri Lanka and other Asian countries. Right now there is growing pressure on local factories by big buyers, to reduce their selling prices. Big buying brands like Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, H&M also influence labour conditions, says ALaRM. |
The American Federation of Teachers has passed a resolution that publicly pressures TIAA-CREF (www.tiaa-cref.org) to do more to engage Nike and other companies on labor issues. TIAA-CREF currently owns approximately $230,000,000.00 in Nike stock, making them one of the largest institutional owners of Nike stock in the world.
Below is the announcement from the AFT’s website and you can read the full resolution at http://www.aftface.org/storage/face/documents/10-14-09_aft_resolution_tiaa-cref.pdf
Peace, Jim Keady
AFT’s Urges TIAA-CREF to Promote Fair Labor Standards
As an organization, the AFT is concerned not only with the working conditions of faculty and staff in higher education, but also with promoting fair labor standards for all workers.
Today, the AFT Executive Council continued that commitment by urging TIAA-CREF to promote better corporate governance and social responsibility among the companies in which it invests. A significant number of AFT members in higher education have their pensions invested in TIAA-CREF. In response to concerns raised by those members, the Council unanimously passed a resolution entitled “Aligning TIAA-CREF Investment Policies with Participant Ethical Standards.”
“This resolution is intended to press TIAA-CREF to use their resources and investment capacity to push corporations to act ethically and responsibly with regard to labor” stated AFT vice-president Phil Smith, who moved the adoption of the resolution. Smith, President of the United University Professions at the State University of New York, went on to note the resolution was “in line with the socially conscious perspective of AFT members.”
The resolution calls for TIAA-CREF to:
* strengthen its commitment and to devote further resources to promote human, civil and labor rights in its investment screening, shareholder advocacy, community investments and public policy; and
* substantially strengthen its capacity for the oversight and engagement of the companies in which it invests; and
* adopt an explicit policy of engaging all of its portfolio companies to promote the ILO Core Labor Standards, which include:
* Elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor
* Effective abolition of child labor
* Equality of opportunity and treatment
* Freedom of association
* Right to collective bargaining
* significantly increase its transparency and disclosure of its screening practices and its shareholder advocacy on issues of human, civil and labor rights.
AFT has been in an on-going dialogue with TIAA-CREF on these issues and will continue to encourage TIAA-CREF to improve its corporate governance guidelines in these key areas related to labor.
###
JIM KEADY, Founder of Team Sweat
Twelve years ago this month I got involved in the fight to end Nike’s sweatshop abuses. Twelve years is one third of my life. It’s somewhat surreal when I think of it like that.
In 1997, I was in my first season as a graduate assistant coach with the Men’s Soccer Team at St. John’s University, the defending NCAA Division I National Champions. Along with my coaching, I was pursuing a masters degree in Theology. For one of my first classes, I was charged with writing a research paper linking moral theology and sports. I researched Nike’s sweatshops in light of Catholic Social Teaching. Simultaneously, the SJU Athletic Department was negotiating a $3,500,000.00 million dollar endorsement contract with Nike.
Within six months I was at the center of a campus-wide debate over whether SJU should ink the deal. Within ten months I was given an ultimatum by my head coach, “Wear Nike and drop this issue, or resign.”
I resigned in protest and became the first (and still the only) athlete or coach in the world to say “no” to taking part in a Nike endorsement deal because of their sweatshop abuses.
The NY Times and the AP Wire picked up my story and I became an instant expert on the sweatshop issue. My critics charged that those were “great jobs for those poor people” and that “you can live like a king on a sweatshop wage in places like Indonesia.” I knew from my research that they were wrong, but I wanted to prove it.
In July 2000 I lived with Nike factory workers in Indonesia. I lived in conditions they lived in and on the wages they paid - $1.25 a day. I lost 25lbs in a month in a rat-infested slum in Tangerang, Indonesia, home to tens of thousands of the women and men who produce the Nike sneakers adored by so many athletes and consumers.
Following that initial immersion in 2000, I conducted field research in 2001, 2002, 2008 and 2009; I took part in demonstrations on three continents; I met with an Indonesian President (Wahid) and members of the U.S. Congress; I led workshops and listening sessions with Nike workers from a dozen factories in Bekasi, Bogor, Bandung, Balaraja, Tangerang, and Jakarta; I lobbied Nike shareholders and was escorted by police from at least one shareholder meeting; I produced a short documentary, “Behind the Swoosh” and am currently producing a feature documentary and writing a book, both under the title, SWEAT; I lectured at more than 400 schools in 39 states and in three different countries; and I met with representatives from Nike at all levels, including Nike founder and chairman, Phil Knight.
Has there been any progress? Has anything changed?
Yes. For example, because of the pressure that was placed on Nike by consumers, women workers no longer have to prove they are menstruating to get their legally guaranteed leave. Also, workers are no longer beaten with machetes or threatened at gunpoint for union organizing activity.
However, while we have seen the progress mentioned above, we still have no movement on the two most important issues - Nike workers are still being paid a poverty wage and Nike still refuses to bargain with their workers in good faith.
Why?
Because Nike has lied about working conditions and many consumers, even so-called progressives, believe that Nike “fixed those sweatshop problems.” They did not.
How do I know?
I was in Indonesia as recently as August 2009 and in my meetings with workers I heard all too familiar stories of inadequate wages, forced overtime, illegal firings for union organizing, workers being cheated out of pay, etc.
In part, what made this trip slightly different, was that Caitlin Morris, Nike’s Director of Sustainable Business and Innovation, accompanied me. So now, when I put forth a charge about Nike’s sweatshop abuses, Nike cannot say it isn’t true as Ms. Morris was in the room with me when the latest round of videotaped allegations were made.
Now, some may want to give Nike a tremendous amount of credit for sending Ms. Morris to Indonesia with me and for taking action on the aforementioned menstrual leave and union organizing issues. I give Nike no credit for these. Why? Because Nike did not make any of these improvements voluntarily; they needed to be publicly embarrassed and pilloried to make each of these changes. Congratulating Nike for discontinuing these corporate crimes would be like congratulating a thief for no longer stealing or congratulating a rapist for no longer raping.
So, what do we do to get Nike to take action on the wage and collective bargaining issues? The same stuff we did to get them to move on the other human rights violations.
We engage, we demonstrate, we publicly embarrass, and we organize, organize, organize!
Come join the fight at www.teamsweat.org!
Read more at the Huffington Post.
Topping this list is Nike founder and chairman, Phil Knight. Forbes noted that the 71-year-old Knight has created the largest sportswear company in the world with $19,200,000,000.00 in sales last year and that Knight has a personal net worth of $9,500,000,000.00 - $6,000,000,000.00 of which is in Nike stock.
What Forbes neglected to mention is that Mr. Knight’s wealth has been amassed on the backs of mostly young women in Asia who, despite producing his products for 20 years, still live in abject poverty.
If we use the lens of history as our guide, Phil Knight is doing nothing new. To make himself really rich, he is exploiting the poverty, lack of education, and desperation of marginalized people. What exactly is “revolutionary” about taking advantage of the poor for selfish financial gain? Before Mr. Knight, this path was paved well by the Pharaohs of ancient Egypt, the robber barons of industrial Europe, and the slave masters of the American south.
Rather than praise Mr. Knight’s unjust actions, people of good will should challenge him. An excellent place to start would be with the words of the Hebrew prophet, Jeremiah.
“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper room by injustice; who makes neighbor serve him for nothing, and does not give him his wages… you have eyes and heart only for your dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, and for practicing oppression and violence.” (Jeremiah 22)
If Mr. Knight were to act justly in light of this prophetic warning, that would warrant his being called a revolutionary.
Peace,
Jim Keady
The writer is the Director of Educating for Justice, Inc. and for 12 years has engaged Mr. Knight and Nike regarding fair wages for factory workers. To learn more about Mr. Keady’s work on this issue, visit www.teamsweat.org.
Team Sweat:
On October 2, 2009, Forbes Magazine published its “Forbes 400 - Revolutionaries.” The online piece stated that, “These captains of capitalism built a product, created a market or satisfied a need that touches us all.”
Philip Knight $9.5 bil Nike. Beaverton, Ore. 71.
Shoe baron ran track for U. of Oregon, teamed up with coach to create Blue
Ribbon Sports 1964; sold Japanese shoes from car. Later renamed Nike, after
Greek goddess of victory. Sales: $19.2 billion, largest sports footwear,
apparel company in the world. Owns 20% of company’s shares after selling off
$1 billion in stock last year. Remaining hoard worth $6 billion; shares up
50% from March lows. Reaping benefits from 2008 Beijing Olympics sponsorship
deal; Asian revenue grew 15% during past year, U.S. only 2%. Cut 5% of
workforce in May; net income still fell 20% during fiscal 2009. Famous for
superstar endorsers: Michael Jordan, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods. Gave $100
million to U. of Oregon’s athletic department in 2007.
What Forbes fails to mention is that Phil Knight, the founder of Nike and the leader of this dubious pack of “captains of capitalism” made his $9,500,000,000.00 by exploiting the poverty and desperation of men, women and unfortunately sometimes children, in developing countries around the world. If Phil Knight lived in the 19th century, he would have been rightly called a robber baron. He steals labor from the poor and marginalized and lines his pockets with the wealth they generate. This is immoral and unjust.
Peace, Jim Keady
I live in Oregon. In some ways I have benefitted from that association with Nike, but I cannot in good conscience say it is OK for Nike to treat people internationally the way they do. I use Nike products. I especially enjoy my Nike Plus to measure distances and times of my runs. I even have some personal connections with the people at Nike and with the company. I even bought Blue Ribbon Shoes out of the back of Phil Knight’s van when I was in high school in the 1960s. But I cannot condone their employment of sweatshops to produce their products.
- Steve Modee
Team Sweat,
Here is a note that was sent to Nike CEO, Mark Parker by a Team Sweat supporter. Have you emailed Mark? mark.parker@nike.com
Peace, Jim Keady
Mark,
I am disgusted in Nike and the treatment of their workers…Yes they are NIKE’s WORKERS (tell Phil Knight I said so) they make the products Nike puts on the shelves. I am going to share with everyone I know how Nike is a profit monster and does not pay it’s factory workers enough money to live a dignified life. How can you continue to work for a company who does not pay workers enough money to live with their kids in an 8×8 square cement box? I’m sure your office is bigger than 8×8 & you wouldn’t be able to live in it for more than 1 day. I think all USA Nike employees need to take a trip to Indonesia to see for themselves how these humans are living in such despair. Your company and the way they treat human-kind makes me sick to my stomach. All people deserve to be able to feed themselves & have proper personal hygiene. You need to change the conditions of the factories & the slums these hard workers live in. Stop burning scrap rubber—do you have kids? Would you want them to inhale toxic rubber fumes?? Can you live on $1.25 a day?? You probably spend more than $1.25 on a damn cup of coffee. Individuals & the decisions they make steer the corporation. Start making some ethical decisions on Nike’s behalf.
End the Nike slavery,
Alexis N. Burgner
Poverty affects millions (billions?) of people worldwide, including people living in “developed” countries. There are numerous social consequences of poverty that impact all of us, even if we aren’t poor. In this episode of Fitness Rocks I briefly discuss a paper from the Journal of the American Medical Association about why we should care about people living in poverty who suffer poor health. The bottom line is that their poor health becomes a risk for your health – listen to the podcast to hear how that works.
I also have an interview with Jim Keady of TeamSweat.org in this episode. Jim talks about his work on behalf of Indonesian factory workers over the past twelve years. These people, according to Jim who has lived among them, are living in horrible conditions while they work in factories making products for Nike.
I tried to get a representative from Nike to do a telephone interview telling their side of Jim Keady’s story, but my request was denied. If you are a Nike representative, the offer to come on Fitness Rocks is always open. I like Nike products and I want to keep buying them – please convince me, and everybody else, that there is no ethical reason why I should avoid your products.
I urge you to watch the twenty-minute video called Behind the Swoosh. It is a video documentary of Jim’s experience living in an Indonesian slum on $1.25 per day.
Poverty is not a liberal or a conservative issue. It is a global issue with negative consequences that affect everybody. Fitness Rocks is a health and fitness podcast so I focus my discussion on how Poverty creates health risks for people around the world, including you.
I am NOT responsible for the opinions or data presented by Jim Keady in Fitness Rocks Podcast 144. I am merely a person interested in the work Jim Keady is doing, and I want to share his story with people who listen to Fitness Rocks. I am not accusing Nike of anything, but I would like to hear their response to Jim’s report from Indonesia.
References:
Why Rich Countries Should Care About the World’s Least Healthy People – JAMA
Behind the Swoosh – video about Jim Keady’s work in Indonesia
Former Collegiate Athlete/Coach Takes on Nike’s Third World Labor Practices
Jim Keady was a coach with St. John’s University’s 1997 national champion men’s soccer team which given the ultimatum to either stop questioning Nike’s labor practices or resign.
Jim Keady has made a living from calling out Nike and the other sportswear-manufacturing giants for their alleged exploitation of labor in Third World countries.
The former collegiate athlete and coach will speak at Wilmington College Oct. 8, at 7:30 p.m., in Heiland Theatre.
The event, which is free of charge, is the second of four programs in WC’s 2009-10 Issues & Artists Series.
In his presentation, titled “Behind the Swoosh: Sweatshops and Social Justice,” Keady will relate the story of losing his coaching job at St. John’s University for challenging Nike’s “sweatshop labor” practices. He has since made the issue of worker exploitation his life’s mission.
In the summer of 2000, he lived with factory workers in an Indonesian slum, trying to survive on their wage of 23 cents an hour. There he documented what workers’ lives are really like.
“I lived in a 9×9 box, sleeping on a reed mat on a cement floor for 30 days,” said Keady, “I lost 25 pounds trying live like a Nike factory worker.”
Since that initial trip, Keady has returned to Indonesia on multiple occasions, most recently in January 2008, to learn more about Nike’s overseas operations.
He has also taken part in grassroots campaigns and demonstrations on three continents that were focused on raising consumers’ awareness about Nike’s sweatshops.
He is currently producing and directing a feature documentary film about Nike’s operations in Indonesia called SWEAT.
SLAC protests in chancellor’s office over sweatshop concerns
By Kelsey Gunderson
Published Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Student Labor Action Coalition protested at Chancellor Biddy Martin’s office Wednesday to voice their concerns with UW-Madison’s actions toward sweatshop conditions.
SLAC members gathered in Martin’s office and asked to speak with her regarding their concerns with clothing factories owned by Nike, who has an apparel contract with UW-Madison.
According to Daniel Cox, a UW-Madison student and SLAC organizer, Nike closed a factory in Honduras, fired their workers and refused to give them severance pay, which is prohibited under the code of conduct all apparel companies have with UW-Madison.
“The university is getting apparel from sweatshops with bad working conditions,” he said. “It reflects badly on the university and the students.”
Jonah Zinn, also a UW-Madison student and SLAC organizer, said UW-Madison plans to host a $50,000 educational program to inform the university’s licensees about the code of conduct regarding the treatment of workers in labor shops.
Zinn said SLAC was uncertain about the necessity of the program.
“We don’t think that these companies can really plead ignorance on the issue of the labor code of conduct,” he said. “By signing a legal document, they are aware of their actions and the implications.”
Zinn said aside from feeling the program was unwarranted, he was also concerned about where the funds were coming from.
According to Cox, SLAC submitted letters to Martin within the past month and never received a response.
However, both Cox and Zinn said they felt Martin listened to their concerns Wednesday and seemed willing to help take further action against sweatshop conditions.
“[Martin] was pretty respectful,” he said. “She expressed her concern and said that she would definitely take an active role once we have the official reports out.”
Cox said he hopes after today’s event, UW-Madison will take a stronger stance against sweatshops.
“The administration should lean on these companies and make sure that they are expected to follow the code of conduct which they are legally bound to, and if they do not, they should no longer have the opportunity of making [University of] Wisconsin apparel,” he said.
Visit Team Sweat on Facebook!
Visit Team Sweat on MySpace!
Visit Team Sweat on Twitter!