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CONGRESSIONAL SIGN-ON LETTER TO NIKE

Novebmer 31, 2001

The following letter to Nike CEO Philip Knight was generated by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), who together collected more than 50 signatures from the U.S. House of Representatives. It was sent to Knight in November of 1997.

Note: Reps. Sanders and Kaptur are NOT calling for Nike to shut down its Asian factories in order to provide jobs in the U.S. Both of these Congresspeople believe that Nike has a responsibility to do right by its existing workforce. The intent of their letter is that Nike should clean up its sweatshop practices in Asia and should include the United States among the sites for new expansion of production.

Mr. Philip Knight
President and Chief Executive Officer
Nike Corporation
Beaverton, Oregon 97005

As members of the United States Congress we are deeply disappointed and embarrassed that a company like Nike, headquartered in the United States, could be so directly involved in the ruthless exploitation of hundreds of thousands of desperate Third World workers, most of whom are women. It is not acceptable to us that the national media reports that girls as young as 13 years of age are employed in the sewing, handwork and cutting departments of factories in China producing Nike shoes that are imported into the American marketplace.

Furthermore, knowledgeable human rights investigators have also determined that Chinese workers producing Nike products toil in environments where they may be beaten, compelled to work overtime, and paid wages below what is legally required by the Chinese minimum wage law. These reports follow on the heels of massive worker demonstrations that were held earlier this year against Nike in Vietnam and Indonesia because your company allegedly was not even paying the paltry minimum wage that those countries require under their own national laws.

In China, the minimum wage is $1.90 a day. In Indonesia, the minimum wage is all of $1.57 a day. In Vietnam, according to an article from the Associated Press (March 28, 1997), "women as young as 15 toil for 20 cents an hour to make 1 million Nike shoes a month, suffering corporal punishment and sexual harassment, according to a human rights report released today." According to Mr. Thuyen Nguyen, a leading Vietnamese human rights activist who inspected four Nike plants in Vietnam, about 35,000 workers at the plants, 90% of whom are young women, put in 12 hour days in overheated plants to produce shoes that retail in the United States for as much as $149. The average wage of these workers is $1.60 for eight hours of work --- moreover it costs these workers more than $2 to buy three meals a day. In other words, Nike is paying less to these workers than they need for their physical survival. We call this working for "hunger wages."

According to Forbes magazine, as the primary owner of Nike you are now one of the wealthiest people in the world - worth over $5 billion dollars. Sadly, while your personal wealth continues to grow, you maintain a labor strategy which pays workers in Asia pennies an hour. Further, you spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year in advertisements treating our young people as a market and urging them to buy your expensive products - which often cost more than $100 a pair.

Interestingly, however, while Nike employs hundreds of thousands of people around the world to manufacture shoes, virtually none of these manufacturing workers live in the United States. Nike has led the way in abandoning the manufacturing workers of the United States and their families as it produces its products in low wage Third World countries.

As we see it, you want American workers and their children to purchase your shoes, but you don't believe they should earn a living wage by manufacturing them. In community after community across America, as the real wages of American workers continue to decline, there are working people who desperately desire decent-paying jobs. Nike could play an extraordinary role in rebuilding the manufacturing base in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, Toledo, Ohio, Los Angeles, California or any of a thousand other cities. Yet, Nike travels the world in search of the cheapest possible labor and turns its back on the very people you want to buy your products. Apparently, Nike believes that workers in the United States are good enough to purchase your shoe products, but are no longer worthy enough to manufacture them.

Needless to say, we very much disagree with your investment strategy and labor relations approach. We believe that you should treat your Third World workers with respect, dignity and decent wages. We also believe that you should begin building shoe manufacturing plants in the United States, and create jobs here.

As members of Congress, we would very much appreciate the opportunity to discuss these issues with you. Please contact the office of Congressman Bernie Sanders or Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur so that we can set up a mutually convenient time and place.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely yours,

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