AAP NEWSFEED
June 6, 2000, Tuesday
Australian General News
HEADLINE: Fed: Nike pays penalty after admitting it breached award
By Heather Gallagher, Industrial Correspondent
MELBOURNE, June 6 AAP - Sportswear giant Nike today admitted it was guilty
of breaching the Clothing Trades Award and agreed to pay the textile
workers' union $15,000 in penalties. The company reached a settlement with
the Textile Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) late today
after the union brought proceedings against it in the Federal Court. In
consent orders read to the court, Nike admitted breaching three sections of
the award and agreed to pay the union $5,000 a breach.
The court was told Nike had failed to register with the Australian
Industrial Relations Commission as a contractor. It also failed to supply a
list of subcontractors and other workers, which enables the union to check
on workers' wages and conditions, for 12 months from February 1998. During
a protest before the hearing, TCFUA state secretary Michele O'Neil said the
union had brought similar court action against more than 80 companies.
All the others had settled and she estimated Nike had spent $100,000 in
legal fees bringing the matter to court. Ms O'Neil later said the
settlement was a great victory for Australian workers. "This is about Nike,
a large multinational company, being made to not only keep to the award
conditions but actually pay a penalty for having breached them," she told
reporters.
Annie Delaney, who has managed the union's FairWear campaign, said the case
would act as a deterrent to other companies. "We believe the outcome today
is the best in terms of making the award work ... and getting the company
to admit to breaches that up until this morning they were refusing to admit
to," she said. Ms Delaney said despite the company's policy of not using
outworkers - people who sew from home usually in sub-standard conditions -
the union had discovered some outworkers making Nike products in Brisbane.
"The nature of the industry is outwork is everywhere, in the garment
industry everyone gives work out," she said. Nike communications manager
Megan Ryan said the company had agreed to settle in a spirit of
conciliation and cooperation. "We acknowledge that the award and the award
process is a very important one," she said. "Nike has put in place
processes and resources to ensure that these administrative oversights
don't occur again." She said the matter had nothing to do with home
workers. "We don't use home workers and we have contractual obligations
with our manufacturers that they don't use them," she said.
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