Nike has been blamed of using sweatshops since the early
1970’s, when it produced goods in South
Korea and Taiwan. As those foreign economies
developed, workers became more productive, wages rose, and many workers moved
on to higher paying jobs. Labor unions also gained more influence. Nike found
cheaper labor offered in Indonesia, China, and Vietnam, which did not allow
labor unions. In these
countries, when workers demanded additional rights and benefits, the Nike
factories closed and moved to a different location that would enable them to
continue operating at a low cost. They are so greedy that they would do
almost anything to increase profits.
Nike has forty three factories and one hundred and
sixty thousand workers in Indonesia alone. Workers are making just less than
two dollars per day, most of the workers being females in there early twenties. Kids are being forced to work long, hard
hours in hot, crowded factories. Factory bosses work together with the local
mafias to have them enforce their rules and have them punish the workers that don’t
listen and follow rules. If they don’t do what is asked there wiped, beat,
threatened at gun point, have their houses robbed of all their possessions and
even worse some of them get killed just because they don’t follow the company
rules.
The sad thing is Nike is paying Tiger Woods enough
money that every second he could buy a house in the slums of Indonesia. Tiger
Woods makes as much money playing just one round of golf, as a person in
Indonesia does in nine and a half years. Behind the Swoosh is an organization
that was started by a man named Jim Keady, his intentions are to improve the
working conditions in the sweatshops of Indonesia. Education for Justice is
another organization Jim Keady started to raise money to help improve the
working conditions for people in Indonesia. Workers are being exposed to
harmful chemicals in the factories. Nike burns scrap materials such as the
rubber from their shoes, in villages where kids play every day exposing them to
harmful fumes. As a result of this, kids are developing breathing problems and
lung issues.
Here is the video Jim made to show the world what
Nike is doing in their factories:
Even though Phil Knight and the Nike companies main
goal is to make as much profit as possible, they need to learn where to draw
the line. I think it is wrong to be so greedy for a profit that you are willing
to put other people’s lives at risk. The workers in those factories are a big
reason why Nike is what it is today, who would have done all the manufacturing
if they didn't. Nike should respect all workers that are involved with the
company, even factory workers because they contribute a lot of time and effort
into the company.
Sources:
http://www.livefreedietravelling.com/documentaries/nike-sweatshops-behind-the-swoosh-documentary/
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19960828&slug=2346270
By, Cory Antonucci
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