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Don't be Fooled by Nike



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Campaign for Labor Rights,
a member of the Working Group on Nike
 
 
                     DON'T BE FOOLED BY NIKE
                 only their PR line has changed
 
Labor advocates who have been following news of Nike should view
with skepticism recent statements made by company spokeswoman
Donna Gibbs (known to many as Donna Fibbs) and by other Nike
senior management.
 
A growing coalition, the Working Group on Nike, continues to
organize around four core demands, that Nike:
 
     * permit truly independent monitoring of its factories
     * respect the right of free association (union activity)
     * pay a living wage
     * stop using child labor
 
The pension board of the United Methodist Church has submitted a
shareholder resolution, to be debated at Nike's annual
stockholder meeting on Sept. 16, that the company permit
independent monitoring of its production facilities -- first in
Indonesia, and then after a period of implementation, wherever
else Nike produces.  The Sports Shoe Workers Council of Indonesia
has sent Nike a proposal for independent monitoring and dispute
settlement.  Three Indonesian nongovernmental organizations have
contacted Nike to offer their services as independent monitors.
 
Nike, meanwhile, continues to rely on the "monitoring" services
of Ernst & Young, WHOSE REPORTS NIKE KEEPS SECRET.  
Monitoring by Ernst & Young has failed to prevent or to correct a 
host of egregious labor rights violations, including Nike's use of child
labor in Pakistan and the use of the Indonesian military to quash
lawful union activity.
 
Nike HAS corrected SOME of the problems brought to its
attention -- NOT because of the inadequate, company-friendly
monitoring activities of Ernst & Young -- but because of
persistent and public efforts by labor rights activists, now
coordinating as the Working Group on Nike, and because of
courageous actions by Indonesian workers and their compatriots.
 
The July 24 issue of The Oregonian newspaper reported that: 
"Nike has accepted an invitation from the Clinton administration
to join a coalition of government, company and labor groups to
explore the issue of independent monitoring."
                       * * * HOWEVER * * *
At the same time that Nike was publicly declaring itself ready to
reexamine its monitoring mechanisms, they were writing to the
United Methodist Church pension board to reject their shareholder
proposal for independent monitoring:  "Ernst & Young has a solid
reputation of thorough and unbiased oversight of manufacturing
operations in developing countries.  To say that nongovernmental
special interest groups could do a better job ignores this
reality and the size of the task."
 
Phil Knight recently told Julie Whipple of Portland's Business
Journal, "I don't think there's any question that we can do a
better job than what we're doing, and I think the focus on the
international nature of business and how consumer products are
made is healthy.  I honestly think Nike is being held to a higher
standard that its competitors.  That's just fine with us and when
the smoke clears, we'll be on our way to being better than we are
now."
                       * * * HOWEVER * * *
This statement coincided with Nike's refusal even to meet with
Cicih Sukaesih when she arrived at Nike headquarters in
Beaverton, Oregon (suburb of Portland).  After participating in a
strike four years ago at a Nike shoe factory in Indonesia,
Sukaesih was illegally fired and to this day remains blacklisted.
 
In other recent PR gambits, Nike hurriedly joined Business for
Social Responsibility, whose offers of membership the company had
spurned for the past two years, and has begun making overtures to
the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights.  In a
recent interview, Donna Gibbs explained that now Nike has "found
some reasonable groups to deal with."
 
                       NIKE HAS A PROBLEM
        which cannot be resolved by its PR department!!!
 
Nike hopes to bypass dialogue with the Working Group and with the
Indonesian NGOs.  While their recent PR blitz may win them some
short-term points, it will not resolve the issues.  The
shareholder resolution is moving forward.  Also progressing are
plans for monthly leafleting at Nike outlets all across the U.S.
and Canada.  The first of these monthly mobilizations will take
place on Saturday, Sept. 14 -- two days before the Nike
stockholder meeting.  We are contacting organizations in other
parts of the world.  A European organization, the Clean Clothes
Campaign, has accepted our offer to participate in the leafleting
actions.  A group in New Zealand has contacted us.  THE MOVEMENT
IS BUILDING.
 
                       JOIN THE ACTION!!!
 
To find out about organizing leafleting actions at a Nike outlet
in your city, please contact Campaign for Labor Rights, one of
the grassroots-action members of the Working Group on Nike.  We
have an extensive background packet on Nike, including reprints
of important news articles and other essential documents.  Within
the next few weeks, we will have an action packet for local
organizers, with:  sample leaflet, sample press release, and
answers to frequently asked questions.
 
Contact information:  Campaign for Labor Rights  clr@xxxxxxxxxxx 
(541) 344-5410  1247 E Street SE, Washington, DC 20003.