Nike's code of conduct requires that each factory "on a regularly
scheduled basis, provides one day off in seven, and requires no
more than 60 hours of work per week, or complies with local limits
if they are lower." Adidas' Standards of Engagement states that
"Employees shall not be required, except in extraordinary circumstances,
to work more than sixty hours per week, including overtime, or
the local legal requirement, whichever is less. Employees shall
be allowed at least 24 consecutive hours off within every seven-day
period, and shall receive paid annual leave".
Working hours vary according to seasonal fluctuations in orders.
They also vary from factory to factory and across different factory
sections. The Like Cutting Bamboo report found that in
all of the factories investigated workers were regularly required
to put in more than 60 hours per week and in the Nikomas Gemilang
factory work-weeks of 70 hours and above were common. Workers
who refused overtime were subject to a range of possible punishments.
In some factories workers were given a series of warning letters
which could result in their dismissal, in others they were shouted
at and humiliated by having to clean the toilets or stand all
day in front of other workers.
Most workers interviewed for this report in November 2001 and
January 2002 indicated they are now working a lot less overtime
than was common during peak periods in the past. In some sections
of some factories workers are doing barely any overtime at all,
in others working hours vary between forty-five and sixty hours
per week. This is well down on the kind of working hours that
were common in the preceding six to twelve months. One of the
Nike workers interviewed in July 2001 was at that stage working
eleven hours per day, seven days per week (a 77-hour week). By
January 2002 this workers' hours had fallen to fifty-seven per
week. Workers at PT Nikomas Gemilang reported that from December
2000 to February 2001 many workers in the factory were working
twelve hours per day, seven days per week (an 84-hour week). As
of January 2002, sixty hours per week was the norm.
It is likely that much of this fall in working hours has been
due to the reduction in orders discussed above, but it may also
be due to Nike and Adidas putting more energy into enforcing their
codes of conduct. According to a worker from Nikomas the extraordinary
hours being worked up until February 2001 came to an end as a
result of the intervention of a Nike inspector. Workers in a number
of other factories said that factory managers have made announcements
that overtime above certain amounts per week is voluntary, and
it is possible to avoid doing overtime above those levels by going
to the personnel manager. Often the problem in these factories
was that complaining to the personnel manager would put the worker's
supervisor offside, and so workers didn't complain in order to
avoid becoming the target of supervisors' anger. Requesting exemptions
from "compulsory" overtime is still frowned upon in these factories
and workers who do so are commonly warned that they could lose
their jobs.
The paradox with regard to falling levels of overtime is that
wages are so low most workers are desperate to work as many hours
as they can. Workers from all factories repeatedly emphasised
how vital overtime income was in order that they could meet their
basic needs. It is not possible to cover even food and rent on
the base wage. In a focus group in January 2002 Ngadinah from
the Panarub (Adidas) factory said (through an interpreter):
We live on our over-time pay - all the workers in Panarub.
If you do not get over-time, you will get very little.
In July 2001 when I asked the (Nike) worker who was working
seventy-seven hours per week whether he would like to work less
hours he replied that of course he would prefer to get some rest,
but that he needed to work those hours to be able to save. In
a January 2002 focus group in another (Nike) contract factory
a worker said that although overtime is voluntary in their factory
it is "forced by nature" since they cannot survive without it.
Workers who are now working less than sixty hours per week in
particular are living in extreme poverty.
Ten people live in this building in a slum about one
hundred metres down the road from a contracted Nike
factory. There is one tiny kitchen, one bathroom and
a small communal laundry area. There is no running water,
instead a deep communal well and a small bucket with
rope tied to the handle provides water for washing and
cooking.
As of November 2001 these tiny dark rooms cost Rp.
80,000 (USD$8) per month. The workers were paid a
basic wage of Rp. 426, 000 (USD$43) per month, and
a daily allowance of Rp. 5000 (USD$0.50) which is
supposed to provide for lunch and ran sport.
Before July this year, the workers claimed to only
be able to survive by working long overtime hours
on the production line. But, with an 'economic slowdown'
in the United States since July, orders for Nike goods
have dramatically cut back the overtime hours. Now
many of the workers are forced to make loans from
a finance company. The average loan is Rp. 300,000
(USD$30) according to one long time employee. This
in turn keeps the worker bound to the factory in order
to repay their debts which can take up to one year.
Leaving the slum, a woman who had been very subdued
ran outside, exclaiming, "Have you photographed everything?
Our broken roofs?"
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