Nike is one of the largest, most popular and profitable shoe and clothing companies in the world. This is why it is a wonder that the reality for many workers overseas making Nike shoes and clothing is far less rosy. Workers are paid wages insufficient to meet their basic needs, they are not allowed to organize independent unions, and often face health and safety hazards.…
Sweatshops play a major role in third world countries. More than 150 million people work in these sweatshops in developing countries. Most of these sweatshop workers are children between the ages of 5 and 14. Many sweatshops are focused on the manufacturing of clothing. Several of these clothing facilities are located most commonly in Central America, South America, Asia, and parts of Europe. Large companies such as Nike and GAP have been discovered to use sweatshops. Although sweatshop employers can be abusive and working conditions are dangerous, sweatshops provide a source of income for the poor and could lead to more opportunities for their future.…
Poor working conditions have been present for centuries. Often times little or nothing is done unless a tragedy occurs to persuade the public to rally for worker rights. This was definitely the case in the United States during the Industrial Revolution and even late in the 20th Century. These conditions have for most purposes disappeared in the United States, with the exception of some in the agricultural sector. However, internationally, mainly in poor third world countries, that is far from the truth. Large corporations from the United States have moved a large portion of their factories overseas to circumvent the strict working regulations within the United States. The third…
Nike plays an enormous role in our youth fashion and athletic attire and has a huge role in our world’s economy and the global effect it has on our earth. Working in the enormous Nike factories around the world is an opportunity to help these people survive. It is not slavery; it is a chance for the poor to get a job and support their families. Nike said they would change their practices and they have. Nike had a few steps to get back into the game. The first step was to identify the problems such as workers’ wages, working environment and then make the improvements, and while doing that they were helping the poor. In the past,…
The Company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, in the Portland metropolitan area. Nike has been criticized for contracting with factories (known as Nike sweatshops) in countries such as China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico. Vietnam Labor Watch, an activist group, has documented that factories contracted by Nike have violated minimum wage and overtime laws in Vietnam as late as 1996, although Nike claims that this practice has been stopped. As of July 2011, Nike stated that two-thirds of its factories producing Converse products still do not meet the company's standards for worker treatment. It serves an area worldwide with its products. It has also been investigated into the claim of child labour in Pakistan.…
"Nike has gone into a country with its manufacturing operations, wages have increased and poverty has decreased." (Phil Knight, Chief Executive Officer of Nike)…
Nike has around 700 contract factories, within which around 20% of the workers are creating Nike products. Conditions for these workers have been a source of heated debate, with allegations made by campaigns of poor conditions, with harassment and abuse. Nike has sought to respond to these allegations by putting into place a code of conduct for all of its suppliers, and working with the Global Alliance to review around 21 of these factories, and to pick up and respond to issues.…
their families. They are paid less than their daily expenses and are never able to save any…
If Nike would require certain conditions to be met and hold true to these standards, then things might get better. But the relax attitude Nike has to leave it up to each facility has put them in the spotlight and until this can be corrected Nike will always be plagued with being connected with child labor, they may have established the minimum age of 18 for manufacturing jobs and 16 for clothing manufacturing jobs but unless they take an active stand on verification, child labor will continue. The low wages that are paid to workers in other countries is considerably lower than the United States wage, yes each country is different but employees should be able to make enough to care for themselves and their families in their respective country. The standard of living is different everywhere but Nike needs to take more action in showing they care for all their employees regardless of nationality. All stakeholders need to be willing to step in and assist with this transition. Nike is making a considerable profit off all products produced in other countries, paying a respectable minimum wage would help untarnish the image that has been bestowed upon the…
Nike has been targeted by various agencies and organizations throughout the world claiming how the workers who manufacture Nike shoes are denied of fair wage and benefits. The worker who make Nike shoes are been shutout while several sport megastars reap in multimillion dollar contracts to promote Nike shoes. Although Nike admits some wrong doings in the manufacturing facilities of its contractors, it claims to have started a commitment to improve the miserable working conditions in those facilities. To many Nike has become a symbol of the evils of globalization.…
Nike was established in 1972 by Phil Knight. This marketing company is famous for their athletic shoes and apparels sold in some 140 countries (Hill, 2009, p. 154). Nike does not manufacturer any of these products they only design and market them. These products are manufactured in other countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, and China, where the cost of labor is low. For years Nike has had repeated accusations of their products being produced in “sweatshops.” A sweatshop is a working environment with conditions considered by many people of industrialized nations to be difficult or dangerous, usually where the workers have few opportunities to address his or her situation(s) (Moore, 2007). This can include exposure to harmful materials, hazardous situations, extreme temperatures, or abuse from employers (Moore, 2007). Sweatshop workers earn as little as half to one quarter of what he or she needs to provide for basic nutrition, shelter, energy, clothing, education, and transportation (Moore, 2007). The following topics will be addressed in this paper legal, cultural, and ethical challenges that confront the global business, various roles that governments played in this particular global business operation, and the strategic and operational challenges facing global managers.…
Throughout the years, United States businesses have had to face protests from government officials, labor leaders, and student organizations due to employing sweatshop labor. If you are unaware of what sweatshops are, they are generally characterized as a place of employment that have very low pay, very long hours of work, and terribly poor working conditions. After hearing this, most people would assume that is awful and they should be illegal and banned immediately from all countries. Surprisingly, a lot of economists view these sweatshops as a benefit to Third World workers and recognize that all those anti-sweatshop protestors could actually reduce Third World employment, which would end up making these sweatshop workers even worse off. However I disagree.…
Nike’s official website has a detailed set of “responsibilities” that it must adhere to in order to maintain a safe and fair working environment. Many of the policies are to do with sustainable production and development of their products. However many investigations through current affairs programs have revealed that some of these responsibilities are not being carried out. Nike has been accused of allowing the factories to force their workers to work 7 days a week, long days, employing underage workers. Nike continually defends it’s factories saying that the reports that they receive and inspections that they carry out show no signs of abuses or exploitation.…
Gail Dutton, (2008) How Nike is changing the World One Factory at a Time, retrieved May 29,…
Nike has been notorious in the past for using sweatshops to manufacture its products. Which leads to the question, how green is Nike? Over a decade ago, an Australian TV reporter was able to gain entry to a Malaysian factory. Workers had been forced to give up their passports and were paid incredibly low wages and were forced to work under horrible working conditions. However, it is worth noting that this is a thing in the past and after the scandal Nike went through great lengths to amend its wrongdoings. From reimbursing the workers to relocating them. Furthermore, according to Tim Connor, a labor-rights advocate with the antipoverty group Oxfam Australia "Ten years ago Nike wouldn't have acted so quickly to redress the wrongs that had been committed”. Granted, Nike’s change of heart has only occurred after Nike was exposed and as a result, Tim Connor went on to state "But we're looking for systematic change that improves conditions across the supply chain, not solutions once the problems are…