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05 Feb 2001, Nike cuts and runs from Indonesian
factories
Dear Friends,
A report from Indonesia, via the Jim Keady at the Living Wage
Project (U.S.), and a request to contact Nike to voice your concerns
on this issue. For more information, contact the Living Wage Project
at: livingwages@aol.com
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nike Cuts and Runs
More Information - Contact Jim Keady at Living Wage Project: (917)
804-0491
No Kill Date
NIKE CUTS AND RUNS FROM INDONESIAN FACTORIES
SCAPEGOATING FORMER US SOCCER PRO AS THE CAUSE
(Michigan - February 1, 2001) Jim Keady, a former soccer professional
and Director of the Living Wage Project, got disturbing news today
about Nike's "cut and run tactics" in a number of the
Indonesian shoe factories that he and his Project Team researched
this past summer. In an e-mail communication sent to them by their
Indonesian labor contacts at SISBIKUM, a Jakarta-based NGO, Keady
was told the following:
On January 11, 2001, during a meeting with the board of SBPS (Serikat
Buruh Pabrik Sepatu) the President Director of PT ADF (Nike's subcontracted
factory), Mr. Haryanto said that Nike will decrease their orders
from Indonesian factories. Up to 20% of Nike's current orders will
move to Vietnam because in Vietnam the labor costs are lower than
in Indonesia.
Mr. Haryanto added that before Jim Keady campaigned at the 2000
Olympic Games in Sydney, PT ADF received larger orders from Nike,
but now, they have been significantly cut back.
We also received information from PT Pratama workers that management
of PT Pratama told the same information to their workers.
The workers were given the following reasons for this current
action:
- Nike will move their order to another country if there is continued
worker unrest.
- The wages in Indonesia are higher than before. (The government
called for an increase from 286,000RP to over 400,000RP per month
for the basic minimum wage to be paid in Tangerang.)
- Nike will move 20% of their current Indonesian orders to Vietnam
because in Vietnam the wages are lower.
- Nike is now redistributing their order to PT POU CHEN and PT
FENG TAY (Taiwanese factories). These will now be the largest
receivers of Nike's shoe orders because the wages are lower and
there is less worker organizing and unrest than in Nike's Indonesian
factories.
We also believe that Nike will cut their orders from 3 other factories:
PT NASA, PT STARWIN and PT DOOZON. Nike's reasons are:
- The factory management cannot handle/ muffle the labor struggle.
- The labor costs are high and the quality of product is bad.
(This communication was slightly edited due to some of the broken
English of the labor organizers at SISBIKUM)
(MORE)
Keady, who along with Leslie Kretzu, Associate Director of the
Living Wage Project, spent this past summer living in solidarity
with Nike's factory workers on a $1.25 a day in Tangerang, had this
to say about the recent development:
"This is an obvious strong-arm tactic on Nike's part, designed
to intimidate workers and prey on their desperation. Nike is obviously
scared that athletes like myself are beginning to be quite concerned
about human beings that produce the products we wear. No athlete
wants to wear and promote products that are made through exploitation,
oppression and the undermining of human dignity. Nike has made claims
that they truly care about their workers. If they care about these
human beings, they should not run away from them simply because
they are demanding that their basic rights be recognized and their
human dignity be respected."
Kretzu commented, "This is a classic strategy of Nike's,
'divide and conquer.' It is interesting that they singled out Jim
when threatening their workers. There is an International Campaign
that has been focused on raising awareness about Nike's labor practices
for the past 8 years. To tell the workers that 'Jim Keady campaigning
at the Olympics on their behalf,' is the cause of Nike's pulling
out is a cowardly and underhanded way of avoiding the real issues
facing workers in Tangerang: fair wages, respecting workers' rights
to organize, and having truly independent monitors."
Both Keady and Kretzu are calling on consumers, students, athletes,
religious, political and community leaders to write, phone or fax
Nike CEO, Phil Knight immediately, and tell him NOT to cut their
orders to the aforementioned factories.
Keady concluded, "The women, men and children we lived with
in Tangerang are desperate and have been exploited by Nike far too
long. With the help of committed Indonesian labor leaders and the
support of the international community, they have taken the initiative
to fight for their basic rights that Nike has stolen from them and
maintain their human dignity. All they want is to be treated like
human beings and once again, Nike is using them simply as pawns
in their game of power and profit. It is no surprise this situation
has such striking similarities with the current situation at Nike's
Kuk Dong plant in Mexico. Phil Knight should be ashamed of what
his company has become."
The Living Wage Project is now in the process of launching a new
group, "Nike Shareholders for Justice" that will lobby
the company from the inside, bring a voice of justice for the workers,
and strive to make concrete changes for the workers as opposed to
the cosmetic changes Nike has made to date.
All of the efforts of the Living Wage Project are geared towards
helping the workers reach their three major goals:
- a living wage
- management collectively bargaining in good faith with independent
unions
- truly independent monitoring of the factories.
For more information about their campaign, please visit the Project's
website at http://www.nikewages.org.
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Living Wage Project
415 Fifth Avenue ~ Belmar,
NJ 07719 (917) 804-0491 ~
livingwages@aol.com
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