1. See http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/morning/features/s251857.htm
2. Ngadinah's comments were translated by Agatha
Schmaedick, a member of the US organisation United Students Against
Sweatshops who attended part of Ngadinah's trial.
3. See Amnesty International's website at http://web.amnesty.org/web/ar2001.nsf/webasacountries/INDONESIA?OpenDocument
(accessed 26 Feb. 2002).
4. The Global Alliance report did point out
that the hourly wages at the nine factories, which at that stage
varied between $US0.32 and $US0.42, were much higher than the
overall hourly pay of Indonesian production workers in 1999 (US$
0.17) (Center for Societal Development Studies 2001, p. 23). In
making this comparison it neglected to mention that most Nike
factories are located in heavily populated industrial zones where
the cost of living and the minimum wage are both significantly
higher than in most parts of Indonesia.
5. To the best of the author's knowledge official
figures for recent inflation in the cost of basic food items in
West Java are not yet available.
6. This is obviously not a precise measure,
but it gives a broad sense of what proportion of Nike and Adidas
sport shoe workers in Indonesia are in this situation. More research
is urgently needed, particularly on the impact on these children
of living apart from their parents.
7. Information regarding the dangers of Toluene
is summarised in the Toxicological Profile for Toluene, Updated,
published by the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease
Registry (Atlanta: ATSDR, 1998).
8. The Indonesian Manpower Ministry estimates
that 40 million people are currently unemployed in Indonesia out
of a population of more than 200 million (Interpress Service 2002).
9. Sources here were the companies web sites
- http://www.nikebiz.com
and http://www.Adidas-salomon.com/en/ir/.
Note that exchange rates cited in this report were determined
using the following web-based currency converters: the Universal
Currency Converter and Oanda.com http://www.oanda.com/convert/fxhistory.
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