Issue No 32 | 24 September 1999 | |
NewsNike in Indonesia: Military Employed to Intimidate Workers
Forty humans rights and labour organisations around the world have condemned Nike for continued abuse of its workers in poor countries.
The organisations, including Community Aid Abroad and Australian union groups, this week presented a letter to Nike's annual shareholders meeting in Hilversum, Netherlands. One example of Nike's abuse is their recent refusal to stop an Indonesian supplier from employing the army to intimidate factory workers during a wage dispute. On-site investigations at other Nike factors have also revealed: * workers being required to work more than 65 hours a week and being paid less than $2 a day * physical and verbal abuse of workers in Nike factories in Vietnam and El Salvador * Nike's refusal to reinstate Vietnamese workers sacked for talking to journalists * workers sacked for trying to organise unions in Nike factories in El Salvador, Thailand and Indonesia * Nike's refusal to sign the Homeworkers Code of Conduct in Australia - which Reebok and Adidas have signed. Nike's actions on human rights still don't live up to its rhetoric, according to Community Aid Abroad's Tim Connor. "Nike responds to human rights abuses by its suppliers with cynicism and denial." Ara Tibi, of Indonesian human rights group SISBIKUM, agrees: "Nike is a great pretender." "They know the reality in Indonesia, they know it well, but forever they keep in silence. They never show their concern for the labour situation or condition." The joint letter calls on Nike to: * reinstate all workers fired for organising unions or talking to journalists * ensure workers are paid a living wage for a standard 40 hour week * publish the addresses of all its suppliers' factories and put in place a credible system for monitoring conditions in those factories. In Australia, the letter has been signed by Community Aid Abroad, Fairwear, Australians in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor, and the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union. For more information contact: Tim Connor of Community Aid Abroad, phone 02 9698 2394 or Annie Delany of the Australian Textile Clothing and Footwear Union, phone o3 9347 3377. The letter and other contacts is available on the internet on the website of the Canadian Maquila Solidarity Network in Canada: http://www.web.net/~msn/3nike9.htm
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Interview: His Daily Fix Graham Richardson talks of his transition from national politics to talkback radio and his ongoing jobs as a fixer. Politics: Requiem to the Third Way The swing to Labor in Victoria shows clearly that once again Australian voters have rejected economic rationalism. The result, and the reasons for it, should worry John Howard. International: A Common Struggle for Freedom It may not get the headlines, but Western Sahara has some chilling similarities with East Timor. Unions: Woolscour Workers say No to Peter Reith Workers at Canobolas Wooltopping - a woolscour plant near Orange, in central west New South Wales, have just sent a message to Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith: thanks, but no thanks. Legal: Outlawed Acts of Consicence The recent boycotts in support of East Timorese indepndence highlights the extremism of Reith's second wave. History: Was Manning Clark A True Believer A Canberra history conference shines the spotlight on Australia's most famous historian. Review: Paranoid Echoes The calls to examine the Australian�Soviet documents in the Moscow Literary archives have grown in volume over the past year. Labour Review: What's New at the Information Centre The latest issue of Labour Review - a resource for officals and students. Satire: Kennett Boosts Chances: Two More Independents Dead Caretaker Premier Jeff Kennett today admitted that voters perceived him as arrogant and out of touch, but insisted that they were wrong.
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