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October 5 1999, Nike's answer on international letter (Philip H. Knight & Dusty Kidd)

Wednesday, 22 September 1999

An open letter to Phillip Knight, CEO of Nike Inc., from human rights organisations, unions and academic researchers concerned about the human rights of workers.

The fear, secrecy and repression must end.

Dear Mr Knight,

Almost a year and a half ago you made a speech to the US National Press Club announcing a series of measures to improve conditions in your suppliers' factories. Many of us concerned about these issues hoped that this announcement might signal a change in Nike's corporate heart. We hoped that the attitude to the human rights of workers who make your products might have moved from cynicism, denial and concealment towards a commitment to respect, openness and accountability.

Seventeen months later these hopes have proved false. Workers in your suppliers' factories continue to be overworked and subject to abusive management practices. Workers who tell journalists the truth about conditions in their factories or try to organise unions to defend their rights continue to be systematically humiliated and then dismissed.

Wages in Nike's suppliers' factories remain unconscionably low. In Indonesia employees of your clothing suppliers are being expected to work in excess of 65 hours a week and yet are strugging to survive on less than $US1 a day. Research by the Interfaith Centre for Corporate Responsibility last year indicated that a worker earning the minimum wage in a Nike factory in Vietnam must work for ten hours just to earn enough to buy one kilogram of chicken.

Nike remains complicit in this exploitation. Your company continues to source products from totalitarian states where workers' human rights, including their right to form unions, are brutally repressed. If corporations choose to source their products from such places they have a huge responsibility to work actively to promote positive change. Instead Nike refuses even to make public statements calling for greater respect for human rights in these countries.

Worse, Nike turns its back on workers who are punished or dismissed for speaking out about the conditions in their factories. This not only punishes those workers, it sends a clear message to others that they must keep silent or else lose their jobs. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Nike is determined to do all it can to conceal conditions in its suppliers' factories and to maintain the status quo in which workers producing Nike's products are powerless to assert their rights and afraid to reveal the conditions under which they work.

You should be aware of the following cases:

- In February and March 1998 several workers from the Sam Yang factory in Vietnam, including Ms. Lap Nguyen, Ms. Khanh Chi and Ms. Hong were interviewed by the US sports channel ESPN. They described problems at the factory, including use of violence by security guards towards workers. Ms Lap was a section leader with three years experience at the factory and had received awards for her skill and commitment. While working overtime on Sunday March 29 she became sick (feverish) and put her hands on her head to rest. Her manager hit her on the arm. She went home, obtained a doctors' certificate for her fever and took one and a half days sick leave. On her return to the factory her manager shouted at her and demoted her from team leader to sewer on the grounds that "section leaders can't take sick days." In the next few days, the supervisor continued to switch her from one job to another and deliberately humilated her in front of other workers. During this time, the factory manager interrogated her about her interview with ESPN three times, using words like "we know what you have been doing behind our back", "confess now and you will be able to keep your job." The factory manager demoted her to cleaning the toilets and continued to harass her. Eventually she was asked to sign a letter of resignation and decided that she could no longer take the harassment and intimidation and signed.

Many appeals have been made to Nike regarding Ms Lap's case. Your staff claim to have investigated the case and found that the factory was within its rights to force her to resign. Nike has never made public the report of this investigation. Recently we learned that three more workers who spoke to the ESPN reporters have been fired, two from a Nike factory and one from a Reebok factory. Reebok immediately got the fired woman, Lieu Nguyen, another job whereas Nike still has not done anything about the cases of Ms. Hong and Ms. Chi despite many appeals.

- In May 1999 researchers from the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee and the Asia Monitor Resource Centre interviewed other workers from the Sam Yang factory. The workers indicated that their wages are inadequate to cover their living expenses, they are unable to save and at times they have to borrow money from their families. They also told the researchers that if workers are late or "do something wrong" penalties are deducted from their wages and they are sometimes struck by their supervisors - usually with bare hands but occasionally with rods. The workers told the researchers of one case where a worker had been hospitalised after receiving a beating from a supervisor.

- In January this year Nike vice-president Joseph Ha wrote to Vietnamese officials claiming that Nike's critics' real aim was to overthrow the Vietnamese government and create a "so-called democratic society on the U.S. model." This letter was published in the official Vietnamese press, sending a clear message to Vietnamese citizens that any cooperation with Nike's critics would from now on be regarded as subversion. Vietnamese citizens who had been passing on information about conditions in Nike factories are now no longer willing to do so because it is regarded as too dangerous. More than six months ago Nike representatives promised the human rights groups in the Apparel Industry Partnership that they would make public statements to the Vietnamese press repudiating Ha's letter and would take other steps to undo the damage which Ha's letter had done. Those groups are still waiting for Nike to fulfil those promises.

- In September 1998 your supplier P T Lintas in Indonesia dismissed Haryanto, a union official who had been distributing Nike's code of conduct to workers. The local human rights group Sisbikum believes that Haryanto was fired because of his union activities. Sisbikum representatives approached Nike's office in Jakarta and asked them to implement Nike's promise to protect the right of workers to organise. They were told that Nike couldn't intervene in the internal affairs of its suppliers. A year later Haryanto is still waiting for the local Indonesian labour court to determine whether or not he was sacked fairly. Although Reebok has allowed a US solidarity group to train Reebok workers in Indonesia in union rights, Nike has refused to do so.

- In October 1998 the National Labor Committee organised a US tour by Julia Pleites, a recent employee of the Formosa factory in El Salvador which supplies garments for Nike and Adidas. Julia's testimony indicated that workers in the factory are beaten and intimidated and struggle to survive on subsistence wages.

Last month Adidas publicly released a report by the standards firm Verité into the Formosa factory. Research for the report was conducted in June 1999 and it confirmed that the situation reported last year by Julia Pleites continues. Most workers interviewed had experienced, witnessed or heard of incidents of verbal, physical or sexual harassment of workers by
supervisors. Workers reported (and were observed) being subject to systematic verbal abuse if they didn't work fast enough. The majority of workers interviewed said that they did not have the right to form a union, and many cited incidents in which workers had been dismissed for trying to organise one. The workers who spoke to Verité made it clear that they were taking a risk in talking to the auditor and were afraid of the consequences.

Recently Nike started a new page on its website called "Correcting the Record" to counter press reports that "get it wrong". The first entry related to the Formosa factory. Nike countered criticisms in the June 1999 issue of Ms. Magazine by claiming that the Formosa factory has "initiated programs to ameliorate workplace conditions and the lives of the women who work there." While the improvements mentioned (reductions in air temperature and the introduction of a clinic) may well have taken place, clearly there are still enormous problems at Formosa and Nike's website mislead the public by suggesting otherwise.

- This month a delegation from the US visited the PT Nikomas Gemilang factory in Indonesia. Workers reported (and the factory management confirmed) that Indonesian soldiers were being deployed in and around the factory during wage negotiations.

This time Nike's "Correcting the Record" site responded by pointing out, rightly, that the stationing of military security at large industrial facilities is not uncommon in Indonesia. The website went on to say "this may be uncommon to Westerners but not to Indonesians - many of whom also want protection and safety from unpredictable elements in a time of political and economic reform in the country." This is grossly misleading. The military are frequently called in to factories in Indonesia not to protect workers but to prevent strike action and ensure that workers stay on the job during times of industrial unrest. Over recent weeks the world has witnessed the Indonesian military actively cooperate in genocide against the East Timorese people in retribution for their overwhelming vote for independence. Against this background Nike's claim that workers would be comforted and reassured by the presence of the military at their factory is empty.

- More than a third of your shoes are made in China, a country where workers are commonly sent to prison or "education through labour" camps if they try to organise independent unions. In the past Nike has vigorously lobbied against proposals that the US government should use trade sanctions to pressure the Chinese government to improve its human rights performance.

Research in July 1999 by the Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee indicated that one of your suppliers' factories in Jiaozhous City (owned by Qingdau Sewon Shoes Co. Ltd.) has inadequate fire safety. The factory has anti-theft cages on all the windows, blocking one of workers' main escape routes in the case of a major fire. Workers in that factory are expected to work until 2 or 3am during peak periods, and it is extremely dangerous for women workers to travel home when they finish at this time.

- This year in the US, Catholic activist Jim Keady requested permission to work in any of Nike's suppliers' factories in Latin America to see for himself what conditions are like. Jim is a former soccer coach from St. John's University (which receives Nike sponsorship) who was fired for refusing to wear Nike gear. If conditions in your suppliers' factories were really as good as Nike claims then this would have been a great opportunity to prove it to your company's critics. Instead Nike refused Jim's request - once again acting to prevent information about factory conditions reaching consumers.

- In Australia, Nike continues to refuse to sign the Homeworkers Code of Practice. Signing the code would allow the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union in Australia (the TCFUA) to check that workers making Nike clothes in Australia are not being exploited and are receiving their legal entitlements. The TCFUA has instituted legal proceedings against Nike alleging breaches of the clauses relating to homework in the local Clothing Trades Award. Nike's competitors Reebok and Adidas have both signed the Homeworkers Code.

Mr Knight, the above issues represent a very small proportion of the problems relating to labour conditions in your suppliers' factories. In your speech to the National Press Club last year you pointed out that about 530,000 workers are working on Nike shoes and clothes on a given day and suggested that the fact that the number of "incidents...have been as few as you have read about I think is in many ways is remarkable."

You must know that this is nonsense. Organisations concerned about the rights of workers in your factories have very limited resources. You refuse to make public the addresses of your suppliers' factories - effectively limiting scutiny to those factories which we manage to discover ourselves. Even for these factories we only manage to speak to a very small proportion of workers, and many of those workers are not willing to let their concerns be made public for fear that they will be punished. Whenever we speak to workers producing for your suppliers, almost inevitably we hear the same story - of brutal management practices, manifestly inadequate wages and repression of workers' right to organise.

To be fair, Nike has taken some small steps in the right direction. In 1997 a leaked internal health and safety report into the Tae Kwang Vina factory found that workers were being exposed to poisonous gases at more than twenty times the Vietnamese legal limit. In December last year Nike allowed Dara O'Rourke (the man who made that report public) to inspect health and safety conditions in that factory and expressed its willingness to let Dara check health and safety in other shoe factories. From this we know that in at least one shoe factory and hopefully in others Nike has replaced the highly poisonous organic solvents with "water-based" products. These "water-based" products are untested and no one knows what, if any, adverse health effects they may cause. Nonetheless the replacement of the organic solvents means that in so far as the current state of scientific knowledge can inform us, it is now less likely that workers will get skin rashes, experience damage to the central nervous system or have babies born with birth defects as a result of making Nike shoes.

In Indonesia an economic crisis has seen a steep rise in inflation and a drastic fall in the value of the rupiah. In response to appeals from campaign groups Nike has required your Indonesian sportshoe contractors to increase wages above the legal minimum. In those factories where this policy has been implemented it has improved the ability of workers to deal with the extreme privations of the crisis. Nonetheless the fall in the value of the rupiah has been so great that these new wages are still less, in US dollar terms, than workers were being paid before the crisis. The wage increase has not been extended to clothing contractors who are still struggling to survive on much lower wages.

These small steps are a long way from being adequate and they have not brought any benefit at all to the the hundreds of thousands of workers making Nike clothing. We call on you to bring about a real change of heart at Nike. Despite endless promises and an eight year campaign against your company we are still waiting for you to put in place a credible, rigorous, transparent and publicly accountable system for checking labour standards in your suppliers'factories, involving individuals and organisations committed to earning the trust of workers. We urge you to do so as soon as possible. The following actions are also required in order to demonstrate that Nike is attempting, in good faith, to end this exploitation:

- In Vietnam, ensure that Ms. Lap Nguyen, Ms. Khanh Chi and Ms. Hong are offered their jobs back at the Sam Yang factory, and put an end to the use of violence to punish workers in that factory. Guarantee that any workers producing Nike goods who have the courage to speak out about conditions in their factories will be protected from discrimination and dismissal.

- In Indonesia, ensure that Haryanto is offered his job back at the PT Lintas factory and is allowed to continue his work as a union organiser. Ensure that the Indonesian military leave the PT Nikomas factory and are never called to any of your suppliers factories to pressure workers to accept particular wages or conditions. Ensure that all your suppliers in Indonesia and other parts of the world respect the right of workers to organise unions.

- In El Salvador, directly communicate to the workers at the Formosa factory Nike's unequivocal support for their right to organise and commit your company to doing all it can to protect them from discrimination and dismissal for trying to organise a union. Communicate the same message to workers at all your suppliers in Latin America and other parts of the world.

- In China, make public statements calling on the Chinese government to allow workers to exercise their right to freedom of association in factories producing for Nike and other companies. Ensure that unions and human rights groups are allowed access to your suppliers' factories in China and other parts of the world to talk to workers about their rights and to provide training and any other support requested by workers.

- In Australia, sign the homeworkers code of practice.

- In all your suppliers' factories ensure that workers are paid a living wage for a standard forty hour week. Workers should be paid enough so they can meet their basic needs and those of their dependents and save some money for the future.

- Give your company's support and assistance to Jim Keady and any other suitably qualified person from a "developed" country interested in applying to work in a Nike factory to build closer relationships between those who make your products and those who buy them.

- Regularly publish a list of the addresses and orders from each of your suppliers' factories, so that any concerned person can travel to any of those factories and find out from workers what conditions are like.

We strongly urge you to take these steps. Until workers producing Nike products are allowed the freedom to tell the world about the conditions they are working under and the right to join together in unions and negotiate for their own welfare, your suppliers' factories will remain
sweatshops and Nike will continue to attract the condemnation of the international human rights community.

Sincerely,

Australians in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET), Australia
Fairwear Campaign, Australia
Nikewatch Campaign, Australia
Textile Clothing and Footwear Union, Australia
Neil Kearney, General Secretary, International Textile, Garment and Leatherworkers Federation (ITGLWF), Belgium
International Coalition for Development Action (ICDA), Belgium
Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, Canada
Maquila Solidarity Network, Canada
Hong Kong Christian Industrial Committee, China
International NGO Forum on Indonesia Development (INFID), Indonesia
SISBIKUM (Social Information and Legal Guidance Foundation), Indonesia
Centro Nuovo Modello di Sviluppo, Italy
Korea Women Workers Associations United, South Korea
General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT), Nepal
Alternative Konsumentenbond (Alternative Consumer Union), Netherlands
Clean Clothes Campaign, Netherlands
IRENE (International Restructuring Education Network Europe), Netherlands
Philippine Solidarity Group, Netherlands
Programa Laboral de Desarrollo (PLADES), Peru
Campaña Ropa Limpia (Spanish Clean Clothes Campaign), Spain
Junya Yimprasert, labour rights researcher, Thailand
Stephen Beeby, Asian Monitoring Network, Thailand
Chumpon Apisuk, Human Rights Working Commitee, EMPOWER Foundation, Thailand
TIE-Asia (Transnationals Information Exchange), Sri Lanka
Industrial Transport and General Workers Union, Sri Lanka
Joint Association of Workers and Workers Councils of the Free Trade Zones, Sri Lanka
Centre for the Welfare of Garment Workers, Sri Lanka
Women's Centre, Sri Lanka
Fair Trade Centre, Sweden
Women Working Worldwide, UK
Campaign for Labor Rights, USA
Christopher Candland, Research Fellow, University of California, Berkeley,
USA (institutional affiliation for identification purposes only)
Global Exchange, USA
Howard Frumkin, Associate Professor, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory
University
Atlanta, USA (institutional affiliation for identification purposes only)
Justice, Do it Nike Coalition, USA
Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition, USA
National Labor Committee, USA
Press For Change, USA
Resource Center of the Americas, USA
Robert Ross, Professor of Sociology, Clark University, USA (institutional affiliation for identification purposes only)
Robert Senser, Human Rights for Workers, USA
Sacramentans for International Labor Rights, USA
United Students Against Sweatshops, USA
Jay Mazur, President, Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees (UNITE), US
Citizens Concerned About Nike, Canada