JUST PAY THEM

WSJ REPORTS: "Unions representing the workers at the Nike’s PT Nikomas plant on the island of Java said employees sewing Nike shoes together were regularly forced to do an hour of overtime per day, off the clock, to meet production targets. Unions complained that the workers did a total of close to 600,000 unpaid overtime hours over the last two years. After close to a year of negotiations, the company has agreed to pay for the overtime.

One of Nike’s many contractors in Indonesia that churns out the company’s iconic swooshed shoes has agreed to pay workers a total of $1 million (or around $222 each) after complaints they were regularly shortchanged on pay.

 While $1 million is just a drop in the bucket for Nike, which sponsors some sports stars for tens of millions of dollars, the number of workers with the complaint — 4,500 — was also just a drop in the bucket. There are more than 160,000 people making Nike products in Indonesia alone and more than 700,000 in emerging markets around the globe.

“The decisive actions taken by PT Nikomas Gemilang IY plant clearly demonstrate how seriously they are taking the allegations of workplace misconduct,” Nike said in a statement.  ”Nike commends the factory on their action plan and efforts to correct inadequacies in current policies designed to protect the rights of workers. Nike will continue to monitor and support their efforts to remediate the situation.”

In the three months ended in Nov. 30, Nike’s profit edged up close to 3% from a year earlier to $469 million as its revenue jumped 18% to $5.73 billion."

NIKE COMMENDS THE FACTORY, 

PAYING FOR PREVIOUSLY UNPAID FORCED OVERTIME.

 $222 FOR THE EXPLOITED WORKERS

 $5.73 BILLION FOR NIKE

PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF WORKERS IN SWEATSHOPS