From: Tom Patterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Nike mobilization packet MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" From: Campaign for Labor Rights <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Nike mobilization packet Labor Alerts: a service of Campaign for Labor Rights To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] NEW WEB SITE: www.summersault.com/~agj/clr Phone: (541) 344-5410 Membership/newsletter. Send $35.00 to Campaign for Labor Rights, 1247 "E" Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. Sample newsletter available on request. NIKE MOBILIZATION PACKET posted October 14, 1998 In this alert: Mobilization update A note on action packets Text of action packet <><><><><><><><><><><> MOBILIZATION UPDATE Plans are moving forward in many US cities, as well as in other countries, for local participation in the Nike mobilization. To find out who in your community is organizing an event, contact Campaign for Labor Rights at (541) 344-5410 or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. Most of the events will take place this Saturday, October 17. To meet local organizing needs, some of the activities are scheduled for other dates, including a few which will take place two weeks or more later. Campaign for Labor Rights encourages local committees to pick dates which match your situation. We will, of course, count all of the actions in this general time frame as part of the mobilization. Where possible, we have asked local committees to leaflet at Foot Locker stores, to put pressure on Nike through its most important retailer. Foot Locker, like Nike, is in financial stress and is vulnerable to consumer pressure. We want Nike to hear from Foot Locker that Nike's sweatshop practices are causing problems for retailers. The primary emphasis for this mobilization is on wages. In Indonesia, the base pay of Nike shoe workers has dropped from $2.46 a day to less than 75 cents a day. Nike should not be pocketing the difference. The lead-off event for the mobilization is scheduled for this Thursday, October 15 in New York City. A growing coalition of settlement houses, organized labor, youth organizations and other constituencies has organized a leafleting and shoe give-back at the Nike Town store in Manhattan (6 East 57th Street, off 5th Avenue) 4:30-6:30 pm. For more information, call the Edenwald-Gunhill Neighborhood Center (718) 652-2232 (Mike or Leo) or the Goddard Riverside Community Center (212) 873-6600 (ext 204). <><><><><><><><><><><> A NOTE ON ACTION PACKETS By scheduling its national coordinator to be on the road for almost three weeks just prior to the Nike mobilization, Campaign for Labor Rights get 10 points for ambition and a big Zero for realism. We mailed out dozens of action packets before going on the road and mailed another 20 or so from the road, when we were able to access email. Another batch went out today, too late to be useful for this Saturday. Doubtless, there are other packet requests still unprocessed in the (literally!) 800 emails we came back to find waiting for us. To deal with the problem we have created for many local organizers, we are posting the text of the packet below. Also, WE CAN FAX THE LEAFLET MASTER TO ANY LOCAL ACTIVISTS WHO REQUEST IT. It should transmit fairly well by fax, since the graphics are not photos. If you want to receive the (one-sided) master, just send us your fax number and specify: * That you are requesting the Nike leaflet; and * Whether we need to include a cover sheet with your name on it. We know that the late arrival of packets makes the work of local organizers much more difficult. We will try not to repeat this error. <><><><><><><><><><><> TEXT OF ACTION PACKET <><><> [leaflet text] WHAT'S NIKE'S TRACK RECORD? INDONESIA: Nike contractors were paying $2.46 a day. With the recent currency crash, Nike workers now receive less than 75 cents A DAY. Even as the media report riots by Indonesians who no longer can afford to feed themselves, Nike refuses to pay its workers more than this paltry sum. VIETNAM: Nike contractors have been caught forcing workers to kneel for long periods with their arms raised, hitting and sexually molesting young women and demanding that they run laps around the factory in the heat of the day until they drop from exhaustion. CHINA: Nike contractors force new workers to pay their first month's wage as a deposit to prevent them from quitting when they find out what conditions are like. Nike refuses to stop using this system of forced labor even though its own code of conduct forbids this practice. PAKISTAN: Nike was caught using child labor in the production of soccer balls. Although Nike claims to have corrected the problem, the company refuses to allow independent monitors access to its soccer ball "stitching center" to verify whether or not child labor is still being used. THE ARROGANT GIANT HAS FALLEN: Nike stock has lost half its value. Profits for the latest quarter are down 35 percent. Nike laid off 1,600 direct employees this spring and is preparing to lay off another 300 now. In Indonesia, more than 44,000 Nike shoe production workers have lost their jobs. Nike used to boast that its sweatshops were bringing prosperity to Asia. Now the "miracle" of sweatshop economies has collapsed and Nike's fortunes are collapsing with them. 10 CENTS AN HOUR ISN'T ENOUGH: Nike is forcing its production workers to bear the brunt of the company's problems. While Nike CEO Phil Knight pulled in a hefty $1.68 million salary this year, the wages of his shoe production workers in Indonesia fell to less than 10 cents an hour. By any measure, those are starvation wages! GOALS OF THE NIKE CAMPAIGN: * a living wage, based on an 8-hour work day * an end to forced overtime * working conditions consistent with human dignity * no more child labor * freedom to join a union and engage in collective bargaining * factory monitoring by local human rights and religious organizations * redress of claims of workers fired for protesting wages and working conditions NATIONAL CONTACT: Campaign for Labor Rights (541) 344-5410 <CLR>@igc.org LOCAL CONTACT: <><><> [sample press release] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NIKE: TEN CENTS AN HOUR ISN'T ENOUGH!!! Local activists organize leafleting at Nike outlet as part of international protest of Nike's starvation wages in Indonesia and other countries. National press contact: Trim Bissell, Campaign for Labor Rights Local press contact: Event: Leafleting and protest, part of an international Nike Mobilization Place: [name of store and street location] Date and time: Local activists will be leafleting at [name of store and location] on [date and time] as part of an international mobilization to protest wages and conditions at Nike shoe factories in Indonesia and other Asian countries. This will be the third Nike mobilization organized by Campaign for Labor Rights, based in Washington, DC. The first two, in April of this year and October of 1997, each involved leafleting and other events in some 50 U.S. cities, as well as a number of events in Canada and other countries around the world. The theme of the current mobilization is "a living wage for a regular work week," with a special focus on Indonesia, where wages for Nike shoe workers have now fallen to less than 75 cents a day, which comes out to less than 10 cents per hour. As wages drop and unemployment spreads in Indonesia, there has been increasing unrest, with riots in many cities. Nike workers, too, are being driven to the point of desperation by their sub-minimal purchasing power. In May, Nike CEO Philip Knight went before the National Press Club in Washington, DC to announce a series of new labor practices initiatives by the company. The package did not include a promise to pay workers a living wage. In recent months, Nike has cut at least 44,000 of its peak 120,000 shoe manufacturing jobs in Indonesia and an undisclosed number of garment production jobs there as the company continues its prolonged tailspin. Nike profits in the most recent quarter dropped another 35 percent and the company prepared to lay off another 300 direct employees, in addition to laying off 1,600 direct employees this spring. According to Trim Bissell, national coordinator of Campaign for Labor Rights: "The Asian miracle economies for which Nike claimed much of the credit in recent years has proved to be the sham which human rights advocates have been declaring all along. Now Nike is paying a price for building its fortune on a foundation of sweatshops. But worst of all is the price being paid by Nike shoe workers. In Indonesia, Nike workers now receive less than 10 cents per hour. By any measure, those are starvation wages. Nike should be ashamed." [Statement by local activist explaining why your organization is taking part in this mobilization.] <><><>
