The Nike Controversy

The Nike Controversy
By Matt Wilsey, Scott Lichtig
Introduction:
Poor working conditions have been present for centuries. Often times little or nothing is done unless a tragedy occurs to persuade the public to rally for worker rights. This was definitely the case in the United States during the Industrial Revolution and even late in the 20th Century. These conditions have for most purposes disappeared in the United States, with the exception of some in the agricultural sector. However, internationally, mainly in poor third world countries, that is far from the truth. Large corporations from the United States have moved a large portion of their factories overseas to circumvent the strict working regulations within the United States. The third
One was in Hiroshima, Japan and the other was Kurume, just outside of Fukuoka. In neither case were we 10% of their volume. We actually considered ourselves fortunate that they would make shoes to our design. It never occurred to us that we should dictate what their factory should look like, which really didn't matter since we had no idea what a shoe factory should look like anyway.
But some 26 years later, I can tell you one of the few absolutes of this business.
However bad you think Nike shoe factories are today, they are far, far better than those factories in Japan some 26 years ago.
When the Nixon administration cut the yen dollar loose from its exchange rate that had existed since the end of World War II . . . In that process, basically all shoemakers quit making shoes in Japan.
We began making shoes in Taiwan and Korea, and in a bold experiment in 1977 we made up to 15% of our shoe products in two owned facilities in Maine and New Hampshire.
The early success we had in making shoes in the United States happened during a severe recession. As New England came out of that recession, we began to lose workers to other industries until in 1984, the two factories became so uneconomical, we closed them. The write-off was about $10 million in a year when our total profit was $15
Toulene has been found to cause harmful effects among workers who are not properly guarded from the poison and the fumes that it emitts. In its place Nike researchers created a water-based adhesive which has no such side effects. While the safe adhesive is not perfect for use in all shoes (especially plastic soled cleated shoes), Knight assured the public that Nike would continue its research and by the end of the 1998 calendar year would have all Nike factories meeting United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standards in indoor air quality. To assure this, Nike stated that it will conduct indoor air testing of all footwear factories and follow-up testing where required. These tests will culminate in a final report made by an independent non-government organization (NGO). Each factory will be given three months from the date the final report was made to make corrections to bring the air quality levels to those set forth by the OSHA.
The second initiative raised the minimum age of all footwear factories to 18 and raised the minimum age of apparel and equipment factories to 16. Current workers of legal age in countries where the standard is lower than Nike’s new minimums were not to be affected. Knight was quoted as saying, "Nike has zero tolerance for underage labor. And I really do have to add this: There has never been a time in Nike’s history where child labor has been a