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| Issue No 62 |  |
14 July 2000 |
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NewsNike Faces Olympics Shame
Global sports giant Nike faces some pre-Games embarrassment with trade unions planning to bring an Indonesian victimized after organizing workers to Sydney to tell the real story of how they 'Just Do It'.
The worker, who was employed by one of Nike's 600 contract factories worldwide, was threatened into resigning and had his house ransacked last December after attempting to organize workers. The visit, to be sponsored by unions, Fairwear and the Nike Watch Campaign would involve a series of public events to draw attention to Nike's treatment of its workers - although there is no intention to disrupt any Games events. Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union national secretary Tony Woolgar says its important to raise public awareness of companies that seek to use the Olympics to enhance their public image. Woolgar says while Nike is prepared to pay athletes like Tiger Woods huge sponsorships to wear their gear - in Woods' case $65 million - they say they are not responsible for the labour practices of their colleagues. With Indonesian workers earning just $US32 per month, Woolgar says Woods' sponsorship would pay 60,000 workers for two years. Looking at it another way, he says it would take an Indonesian Nike worker 33,000 years to earn Wood's endorsement. What's the Beef? Nike is resisting requests from organisations involved in the Nikewatch campaign to: - make public the addresses of all factories producing for the company - allow regular unannounced factory monitoring by credible human rights groups which are independent of Nike - establish a confidential complaint mechanism to a credible independent body for Nike workers whose rights, including the right to organise, are infringed. - and, in Australia, to sign the homeworkers code of practice. Keep reading Workers Online for further details of the tour and related events
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   Interview: Fair TraderAMWU boss Doug Cameron is gearing for a showdown with the ALP over their free trade agenda. But what's he really on about? Politics: Free TraderTrade Minister Peter Cook states his case for coninuting trade liberalisation and why the 'fair trade' agenda is against the interests of Australian workers. History: Organising - Fifties StyleWhat do the new wave of organisers do? Pretty much the same hard slog that Audrey Petrie did in the 1950s around Sydney for the Hotel, Club and Restaurant Union (HCRU). Unions: The WhistleblowerA lone Chinese seafarer is fighting to stop a Panamanian flagged vessel from dumping toxic waste into Australian waters International: Jakarta BreakthroughIndonesian workers have just won a new historic bill of rights which gaurantees them legal protections when they form unions. Solidarity: Rio Versus the Rest of the WorldUnion members around the world have taken part in a week of international action against the mining giant Rio Tinto. Andrew Casey looks at all the hot spots. Satire: Amnesty Branch Targets Lazy Letter WriterPolice are investigating claims that the Glebe branch of Amnesty International has captured and tortured a member whose tardiness in letter writing had become renowned. Review: Little by LittleClinton Walker's groundbreaking book, CD and video charts the careers of indigenous artists like the legendary Jimmy Little.
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