
Issue No 69		01 September 2000

LaborNET	Ask Neale	Tool of the Week

News

Pressure Mounts On Nike To Live Olympic Ideal

Have you ever wondered, as you slipped on your sneakers or pulled on a pair of jogging shorts, what life might be like for the person who made them?

You can find out this month as the campaign challenging Nike to live up to the Olympic ideal steps up with the visit to Australia of an Indonesian worker from a Nike factory.

The campaign is being organised by Community Aid Abroad-Oxfam Australia, Fair Wear and the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Workers' Union of Australia.

In December 1999 this worker helped organise a strike and demonstration by all the workers in his factory. In the following months he and the other workers who organised the demonstration were subject to continual harassment and intimidation. They were told if they didn't resign they'd be beaten up by hired thugs. One had his house ransacked.

Community Aid Abroad says it can't release the workers' name until just before the tour starts in case the factory that forced him to resign tries to stop him from coming.

It'll give you a different perspective on your sneakers. He'll be in Australia from September 2 until September 16 and he'll visit Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Campaign Events

You can help make these events huge - both by being there and by helping with planning. If you'd like to help and have any time at all in the first two weeks in September then check out http://www.caa.org.au/campaigns/nike/olympics/help.html or email [email protected] (Adelaide), [email protected], (Melbourne), or [email protected] (Sydney).

Sydney

Monday, 4 September, 10.30am - Press Conference, NSW Parliament House. 11 a.m. to 1p.m. - Nike has been invited to debate whether the company's labour practices meet the Olympic ideal of respect for human dignity. Jim Keady and the Indonesian worker will speak from direct personal experience about what it is like trying to live on the wages of a Nike worker in Indonesia. Parliamentary Theatrette, NSW Parliament House, Macquarie St, Sydney.

Monday, 11 September, 6p.m. - 7.30 p.m., Alternative Olympic Opening Ceremony in Victoria Park in Sydney. This is the big one. Come and challenge Nike to live up to the Olympic ideal. There will be giant floats (including a Nike shoe the size of a small car), speeches and performances by the combined Trade Union choir. (Wet weather number, after 5 pm on the day only - 9698 2394)

Adelaide (Hosted by Fair Wear)

Thursday 7 September 2.30pm to 4pm. Public Forum - "Nike and the Olympic Ideal: Nike's Labour Practices in Indonesia" W. P. Rodgers Room, Union Building University of Adelaide Friday, 8 September 7.30am - 9am. A Breakfast for community leaders and people concerned about the conditions of outworkers in Australia and the South East Asian Region. Dowie's Brasserie 83 Currie St, Adelaide. $22.00 waged $12.00 unwaged. (Includes Admission & cooked breakfast) RSVP to Rosie Falco Textile Clothing and Footwear Union 8139 1050 or Sally Biddle Working Women's Centre 8410 6499 by 28/8/00

Friday, 8 September 4.30pm - Public Demonstration at BEEHIVE CORNER Cnr King William St and Rundle Mall.. Show your concern for Outworkers. Support the Campaign to have Nike sign the Homeworkers Code of Practice. Contact John Wishart on 83631322 or mobile 0413 444692 for details.

Melbourne

(Hosted by Fair Wear and the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia)

Saturday, September 9, 9am to 5.30pm - The People's Conference (alternativeto the World Economic Forum), VUT Conference Centre, 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne. Contact Public First , ph: 9662 9688 or 0419 537 595.

Monday, September 11, Fair Wear action at Melbourne Exhibition Centre "Fashion Exposed Trade Fair". Call Fair Wear on 03 9251 5270 for furtherinformation Perth (Hosted by Community Aid Abroad - Oxfam Australia)

Saturday Sept.16, 2-4pm: Campaigns Cafe on Nike in Indonesia at Totem, 446 Beaufort St, Highgate. All enquiries to Pete Stone 08 93813144.

Meanwhile...

US soccer pro tries an Olympic event with a difference - living on Nike wages for a month

Former professional soccer player Jim Keady and activist Leslie Kretzu are in Indonesia trying to live on Nike Workers' standard wages. They are going hungry. Check out this site for their daily updates -http://www.nikewages.org/ . Jim and Leslie will be in Sydney from September 2 until September 16.

Full details at http://www.caa.org.au/sweatshops

View entire issue - print all of the articles!

Issue 69 contents

Interview: Global Warrior
International unions have won a game of political football with soccer`s hierarchy - and Aussie Tim Noonan is behind the victory.

History: King of Broken Hill
John Shields recounts the colourful life of William Sydney 'Shorty' O'Neil (1903-2000) and his place in the rich history of a remarkable town.

International: History Repeats At Firestone
More than 8,000 workers, members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA), are set to strike at nine Bridgestone/Firestone plants in the United States at midnight tonight.

Politics: The Past We Need To Understand
In his Vincent Lingiari Memorial Lecture Malcolm Fraser retraces the path of Australian race relations and laments the terrible impasse we've reached.

Unions: Economic Democracy
Sharan Burrow on making Working Australia's money talk and reforming corporate culture for the 21st Century.

Satire: Another windscreen washer joins millionaire list
SYDNEY, Monday: After just a year in his new job, John Samuels has added his name to the burgeoning list of enterprising Australians who have made their fortunes by offering partial car-washing facilities in convenient inner city road-side locations.

Review: No Long Term
Much political commentary is about the global marketplace and the use of new technologies as hallmarks of the new capitalism. Richard Sennett investigates another dimension of change: new ways of organising time, particularly working time.

» New Benchmark In Bank Greed

» Olympics Deal Sparks Soccer Ball Victory

» Two Day Strike Hits BHP Mines

» Leightons, SOCOG Tremble Before Haka

» Hilton Hotels Limp As Strike Bites

» Wran Lends Boffins A Hand

» ACTU Meets Joy

» Barracks Workers Put The Pinch On Local MP

» Olympic Win For Taxi Drivers

» Australian Unions Keep Spotlight on Fiji

» Staff Eye Telstra Prize

» Dice Loaded Against American Workers

» NZ Union Federations Heal Split

» Pressure Mounts On Nike To Live Olympic Ideal