Nike and The Lorax

Did anyone else feel guilty when they started reading "The Globetrotting Sneaker" and looked down at their feet and realized that they were wearing a pair of Nike's? Because I did. Which is why, in an attempt to make myself feel better, I looked into what Nike has done in the past 15 years since that article was written in order to improve their ethical and moral image.

One thing that has changed in Nike's policy since the 1990s is the allowing of random inspections by the Fair Labor Association. In addition, Nike has created a sector of around 100 employees whose jobs are to travel to supplier factories, grade the factories on labor standards, and work with managers to improve labor conditions. I also found problems that had been somewhat solved by Nike that weren't even talked about in the readings. For instance, did you know that women in Nike sweatshops used to have to prove they were menstruating before given their legally guaranteed leave? They no longer have to do so. In addition, and the article minimally touched on this, Nike workers were beaten more than once with machetes and threatened at gunpoint if they were perceived to be involved with union organizing activity. This is now no longer the case. Nike has also made tremendous progress in reducing the use of toxic chemicals in their shoemaking factories.

So should we give credit to Nike for these improvements? Jim Keady, founder of Educating for Justice and Team Sweat says absolutely not. "Nike did not make any of these improvements voluntarily; they needed to be publicly embarrassed and pilloried to make each of these changes. Congratulating Nike for discontinuing these corporate crimes would be like congratulating a thief for no longer stealing or congratulating a rapist for no longer raping.And besides that, Nike still has a long ways to go in reaching justice in their labor division. Many workers are still coerced into working 70 hour work weeks, and note that it is very difficult to take sick leave or vacation because of the pressure their under to not get threatened with dismissal. In addition, Nike still refuses to pay its workers a figure able to be lived off of. Nike workers today barely get paid enough to survive, not to mention serving the needs of their children.

So what are we helpless and powerless college students to do? Well, as you may have heard, Luther College was recently part of a boycott of Russell Athletic wear after allegations that the company fired 1,200 workers in Honduras after they began unionizing. Due to the pressure of students across the nation, on November 17th, Russell rehired the 1,200 workers. UW-Madison, after being a part of the Russell boycott success, has now turned their heads to Nike. According to The Capital Times based in Madison, WI, "Two factories Nike subcontracts with in Honduras, Vision Tex and Hugger de Honduras, closed in January without paying more than $2 million in legally mandated severance and back pay to 1,800 workers." As a result, Madison is hosting a $50,000 educational program to inform the university’s licensees about the code of conduct regarding the treatment of workers in labor shops. After seeing the power students had in the Russell case, they have faith that if they act to raise awareness that poor labor conditions of big athletic apparel companies all reflect poorly on universities, administrations will come to realize that these big companies don't deserve the opportunity to market to university students. Don't be surprised if this cause against Nike spreads to the Luther campus...and don't feel powerless in the difference you can make.