nike
There has been much debate and controversy recently concerning Nike's Asian labour practices. This is a very complex issue and one that is a long way from being solved. It is very difficult to determine which side of this argument to defend, as both sides acknowledge the facts, yet put a completely different spin on them. Do you believe Nike's critics who say they're exploiting workers? Or, do you believe Nike when they say that they are giving workers in these countries wonderful opportunities to raise their standard of living? The consensus answer to this question by all sides seems to be that Nike is improving but still has a ways to go. Nike's Asian ties can be traced back to the birth of the company. The CEO, chairman of the board of directors, and co-founder, Phil Knight, wrote his masters thesis at Stanford University in the 1960's on the prospects for using Asian labor to produce goods cheaper and more effectively. In order to incorporate this plan in to Nike's business structure, a partnership was set up with a Japan based company called Tiger Sports. Tiger Sports would manufacture shoes for Nike in Asia then shipped them to the United States to sell. In the 1980's however, this asp
Critics contend that the factories pay less than minimum wage at times, force too many overtime hours, and fail to make the workplace as clean and as safe as standards dictate. The students spent three weeks interviewing workers in each country, and at the end of the study, three main conclusions were found. They do, however, have a massive amount of leverage when dealing with these factories because of the huge contracts they supply. " The second conclusion states, "workers living on their own can generate discretionary income in excess of basic expenditures such as housing, transportation, and food. Young even admits that he and his company are not "labor practices experts" (GoodWorks, disclaimer) yet they were chosen to do this job. They contract out work to factories that make all of the products and run all of the factories. This information directly contradicts Young's statement of "clean, well-lit, ventilated factories. The most consistent criticism of Nike is that the workers in the factories contracted by them are not aware of the Code of Conduct that was agreed upon, and/or it is not enforced (especially the wages and overtime aspects) by the factory officials. He states, "But if the Nike report was 'classic Andy Young,' it was also a classic sham, marred not just by shoddy methodology but by frequent misrepresentations" (Glass). Although these conclusions support Nike's insistence that they do not sacrifice their workers well being for their own financial gain, critics bring to light a valid point when they argue that it is impossible to paint an accurate picture of the pay scale in three weeks time by interviewing approximately 1% of the workers, sometimes in front of management, which doesn't allow the worker total freedom of speech. This is one reason offered by Nike in defense of the factories failure to comply with the Code of Conduct. ect of Nike's partnership with Tiger Sports was dissolved, and Nike was forced to expand production from the United States to countries such as Taiwan and Korea where their products could be manufactured at the same relatively low cost that Nike enjoyed through the Tiger Sports partnership. Young and his staff visited four factories in Vietnam, Indonesia, and China for three to four hours each led by Nike's people. The Conduct Code in theory condemns and prohibits child labour, requires that workers be paid fair wage, imposes caps on the days and hours a worker can be forced to work, prohibits mistreatment or discrimination of workers in any form, obligates factories to implement programs that benefit worker's health and safety, and recognizes and respects the workers right to freedom of association. This, in turn, caused the cost of labour to increase dramatically, and therefore Nike could no longer produce their product as efficiently as before.
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