Dear Editor:
The recent Op-Ed piece, "Missing the Point: Likins Versus SAS," by Sheila Bapat perpetuates misinformation regarding Nike's global manufacturing practices and the Fair Labor Association (FLA), and I would like to set the record straight.
The fact is, Nike is engaged in extensive monitoring of our partner factories - from Nike staff to student monitors to independent external auditors like PricewaterhouseCoopers. Even University of Arizona students have served as monitors in our partner factories. Nike has nothing to hide, and that is why we have posted the results of the monitors' reports - the good, the bad and the ugly - right on our Web site www.nikebiz.com for everyone to see.
But it doesn't stop there. We are also a member of the Global Alliance for Workers and Communities. This is a private, public and nonprofit collaboration that uses worker-driven evaluations to improve the workplace and living conditions of young adults involved with global manufacturing. The most recent completed survey sampled 3,800 workers in 12 Nike manufacturing facilities representing approximately 50,000 workers - nearly eight percent of Nike's total contract work force - in Thailand and Vietnam. An assessment is currently underway in 17 factories representing approximately 60,000 workers in Indonesia, and one is about to start in China involving 11 factories and 75,000 workers.
Nike continues to support the Fair Labor Association (FLA), which is in the process of certifying factory monitors, because it enables activist, labor, consumer, university and manufacturing groups to work together to initiate change and establish protection for workers worldwide. This partnership has resulted in the creation of a single Code of Conduct that everyone can follow. We strongly believe it is impossible to solve these complex issues without the input of those in a position to actually make change happen - the manufacturers and factory owners - sitting alongside consumer and human rights groups, trade unions and universities.
What Ms. Bapat did not tell your readers is:
* Nike increased age requirements for employment in Nike contract footwear factories to 18 years of age - meeting, or in some cases exceeding, certain U.S. and International labor standards
* Nike improved factory indoor air quality by substituting safer water-based adhesives in the assembly process
* Nike increased wages over 70% for entry-level Indonesian [footwear] factory workers - the most recent 13.2% increase was implemented on April 1, 2000. In addition to wages, most workers also receive benefits such as housing, transportation, on-site health care and meals. Jobs in Nike contract facilities provide opportunities to build a lifestyle and life skills that are not typically available in other wage earning areas where our products are manufactured.
* Nike pushed the envelope of corporate transparency by placing user-friendly information on our web-site, www.nikebiz.com, including, the actual results of factory monitoring reports conducted by our external monitors PricewaterhouseCoopers and the names and addresses of factories producing collegiate licensed apparel and unedited reports by 16 students who visited over 90% of factories producing collegiate licensed product this past Spring.
* Nike signed the United Nations' Global Compact, taking a pledge to do our best to operate around the world in a manner defined by nine principles drawn from the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, the core standards of the International Labor Organization and the Rio Declaration on the environment and development.
Let me be clear, while Nike has encouraged schools to select the FLA for monitoring -for reasons mentioned above - Nike recognizes each college partner's right to choose monitoring organizations and has partners that are members of the Workers' Rights Consortium as well as some that are members of both. Regardless of what organization a school chooses to join, Nike will continue to work for one code of conduct and one process.
At Nike we know that globalization and human rights can - and do - co-exist. That's why we work closely with non-profit organizations, governmental authorities, and other partners to ensure that our workers, and their communities, benefit from their relationship with Nike. Please visit our Web site at www.nikebiz.com for more details and the most current information about Nike's corporate responsibility programs.
Amanda Tucker
Senior Manager Corporate Responsibility
Nike, Inc.
