Nike Sweatshop Analysis
Nike -Sweatshop
Overview
Nike is one of the largest, most popular and profitable shoe and clothing companies in the world. This is why it is a wonder that the reality for many workers overseas making Nike shoes and clothing is far less rosy. Workers are paid wages insufficient to meet their basic needs, they are not allowed to organize independent unions, and often face health and safety hazards.
Nike publicizes itself as one of the leaders of corporate responsibility. However, they do not comply with several human rights obligations overseas in countries like Thailand, Pakistan, China, Vietnam and Indonesia. In these countries, production facilities called sweatshops have been running for almost 35 years employing workers as young as …show more content…
It is actually Nike, not the subcontractors that ultimately set the pace of production as well as the wages of the workers. If a subcontractor wants to stay in business, he must accept the timeline set by Nike and accept the price Nike is willing to pay (sweatshop.org). Thus, although Nike does not own foreign factories, it still has a moral responsibility for working conditions in its subcontracting chain. Because as the definition states, a Nike product should be thought of as an “overall product” no matter who is working on …show more content…
to produce its products. The issue was that the government of these countries didn’t enforce any labor laws or human right laws and therefore sweatshops were legal. The ethical aspect of this case was if Nike should be held responsible for its subcontractors.
The host countries of Nike’s sweatshops didn’t enforce any laws because they were glad that a big company like Nike comes in to their country and increases their income and their job capacity.
If the countries, Nike was doing business with, would have put laws on minimum wage, overtime pay etc., it probably wouldn’t have been profitable for Nike to hire a subcontractor there.
In my opinion the main problem of Sweatshops is that there are no international laws regarding labor rights, worker safety etc. Because of the fact that global business is increasing, and the world is moving towards a global economy, unified laws for labor and worker rights should be formed. The world trade organization or a similar establishment can do this. As I stated earlier a more transparent monitoring system for companies like Nike needs to be
Overview
Nike is one of the largest, most popular and profitable shoe and clothing companies in the world. This is why it is a wonder that the reality for many workers overseas making Nike shoes and clothing is far less rosy. Workers are paid wages insufficient to meet their basic needs, they are not allowed to organize independent unions, and often face health and safety hazards.
Nike publicizes itself as one of the leaders of corporate responsibility. However, they do not comply with several human rights obligations overseas in countries like Thailand, Pakistan, China, Vietnam and Indonesia. In these countries, production facilities called sweatshops have been running for almost 35 years employing workers as young as …show more content…
It is actually Nike, not the subcontractors that ultimately set the pace of production as well as the wages of the workers. If a subcontractor wants to stay in business, he must accept the timeline set by Nike and accept the price Nike is willing to pay (sweatshop.org). Thus, although Nike does not own foreign factories, it still has a moral responsibility for working conditions in its subcontracting chain. Because as the definition states, a Nike product should be thought of as an “overall product” no matter who is working on …show more content…
to produce its products. The issue was that the government of these countries didn’t enforce any labor laws or human right laws and therefore sweatshops were legal. The ethical aspect of this case was if Nike should be held responsible for its subcontractors.
The host countries of Nike’s sweatshops didn’t enforce any laws because they were glad that a big company like Nike comes in to their country and increases their income and their job capacity.
If the countries, Nike was doing business with, would have put laws on minimum wage, overtime pay etc., it probably wouldn’t have been profitable for Nike to hire a subcontractor there.
In my opinion the main problem of Sweatshops is that there are no international laws regarding labor rights, worker safety etc. Because of the fact that global business is increasing, and the world is moving towards a global economy, unified laws for labor and worker rights should be formed. The world trade organization or a similar establishment can do this. As I stated earlier a more transparent monitoring system for companies like Nike needs to be