OUGD505 - Studio Brief 2 - Nike Abuse

Not given proper training or having the necessary safety equipment.

• Exposed to toxic glues and chemicals.
• Paid an average of $1.60 a day when at least $3.00 a day is needed to survive.
• Expected to work an average of 60 to 70 hours a week.

Nike does not only abuse adult sweatshop workers, they are also reported to frequently hire people under the age of 18 in these sweatshops and there are no initiatives taken to monitor this.  Nike signed a pledged to stop using workers in hazardous situations in 1998 after denying any abuse that these workers faced.  Since then, Nike has not followed through with this agreement and routinely turns a blind eye to these sweatshops. This kind promise is something that should have been kept by a company that is sincerely trying to make sure that all of the labor that goes into their products is fair and just. Instead Nike decided to not take this issue into concern and continues to allow the unfair treatment of these workers.

In 1996 Life magazine published an article about a 12-year-old boy in Pakistan that stitched soccer balls for Nike for about 60 cents a day.  This was not uncommon for Pakistan which allowed children to work for low wages.  But multi-million dollar companies using this to their advantage was something that was heavily looked down upon.









Stats & Complaints 

• Between 25% and 50% of the factories in the region restrict access to toilets and drinking water during the workday.

• Employees worked more than 60 hours a week. In up to 25%, workers refusing to do overtime were punished.

•  Workers being fired after filing complaints.

• Wages were also below the legal minimum at up to 25% of factories.

• Minimum wage of $US2.50 a day in Indonesia, where the daily liveable wage is between $4.00 and $4.50.

• Mira Agustina, 30, said she was fired in 2009 for taking sick leave, even though she produced a doctor's note.

• 'They throw shoes and other things at us,' said a 23-year-old woman in the embroidery division.

• 'They growl and slap us when they get angry.