Just do… Child Labor????

Nike Background Founded in 1964 by Bill Bowerman and Philip Knight as Blue Ribbon Sports Bowerman was a track coach at the University of Oregon and Knight was a track athlete under Bowerman Became Nike in 1978 after the Greek goddess of victory. Publically traded sportswear and equipment supplier Headquartered in Beaverton, OR World’s leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel Manufacturer of sports equipment Has other brands including: Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Air Jordan, Hurley International, Converse

What generally comes to mind when someone hears Nike?

What generally comes to mind when someone hears Nike? and child labor…

Child Labor Scandal in Pakistan Child labor is widespread in Pakistan. In 2006 it was estimated that 11 million children under 14 work six days a week, nine to ten hours a day. While it is widely known that it occurs, the government of Pakistan does not act against it nor is there substantial international action against it. Around half of the soccer balls in the entire world are manufactured in Pakistan Nike has been known for the use of child labor in the production of soccer balls in Pakistan.

Child Labor Scandal in Pakistan Children are often used for work that takes advantage of their nimble fingers and agile hands. A child working on stitching leather pieces together for a soccer ball would earn only 60 cents a ball and one ball typically would take an entire day to make. Many if not all of the children were indebted to the factory owners by around $150-$180. The children often never make enough to pay off their debts. A typical soccer ball costs $6 to make and sells for $30 in the United States. That is a 400% markup.

Child Labor Scandal in Pakistan Difficult to monitor because many factories allow workers to bring soccer ball panels home to stitch which allows “stitching sheds” to exist where child laborers work. In June 1996 Life Magazine published an article about Nike’s child labor in Pakistan.

Who is to blame? Nike who capitalized on the low prices of the labor to achieve high profits on their products? OR The parents who may have sent their children to the factories in order to make money for the family?

Nike’s Reaction Following the several scandals in the ‘90’s, one of Nike’s owners, Philip Knight, promised six things: All Nike shoe factories will meet the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) standards in indoor air quality The minimum age for Nike factory workers would be raised to 18 for footwear factories and 16 for apparel factories Non-government organizations will be included in Nike’s factory monitoring Nike will expand its worker education program Nike will expand its micro-enterprise loan program to benefit 4,000 families overseas Nike will fund university research and open forums on responsible business practices

Public Reaction While Nike did come out with promises on how they were going to rectify the situation, certain labor rights groups still had demands that weren’t met on labor standards. Some examples are the following Protect workers who speak honestly about factor conditions Have a standardized set of confidential and independent procedures to monitor factories and investigate worker complaints Adequate wages Reasonable working hours Safe and healthy workplaces Respect for worker’s rights to unionize The human rights group, Community Aid Abroad-Oxfam urged athletes who were competing in the Sydney Olympics to rethink any Nike sponsorship that they might have had. Different student groups around the United States petition to no longer use Nike soccer balls if there is evidence of child labor.

Current State Although Nike owners make promises to remove child labor, investigation has found conflicting evidence: Just in 2001, a documentary revealed occurrences of child labor and poor working conditions in a Cambodian Nike factory Investigations in 2008 uncovered a number of cases of forced labor in one of the company’s largest factories in Malaysia Nike continues to make statements saying they are taking corrective action to ensure these incidents do not occur

Current State According to Nikebiz.com: Although it has taken over a decade, the company has learned that monitoring alone doesn’t solve problems in their factories Many problems of child labor are recurring Nike’s new focus is to get to the heart of the problem The company is sharing select contract factory auditing tools to increase transparency on how Nike factories are evaluated Nike is constantly trying to improve the state of their factories

Current State Nike has also been accused of abusing workers at factories in Indonesia The abuse included bullying, forced overtime, limited access to healthcare, cruel punishment for tardiness, sexual harassment, etc. The average worker at these plants were women around 23 years of age.

How can you fight child labor? Stop buying products that have been made using child labor. The downside of this is that while you may help to fight child labor at one stage of production, you also can harm other stages of production that use legal means. Buy only fair trade products. Support an organization that fights child labor, such as Free The Children.

My Sources http://www.nikebiz.com/responsibility/workers_and_factories.html http://www.mallenbaker.net/csr/CSRfiles/nike.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nike,_Inc. http://www.globalexchange.org/campaigns/sweatshops/nike/stillwaiting.html