Nike's sound of silence<\/p>\n
On Sept. 5 this newspaper carried a news report on Mr. Jim
\nKeady's attempt to replicate the lifestyle (if it can be called
\nthat) of Nike's Indonesian workers, and his criticism of Nike
\nIndonesia's labor practices. On Sept. 11 Nike's Indonesia manager
\nMr. Tony Naha replied to Keady's criticism, and in a Sept. 13
\narticle I questioned Nike's rebuttal, specifically its wage
\npolicy for local workers. I asked Nike to present some financial
\ndata to support their position that their system was just.<\/p>\n
Since Nike had already opened the door to this area of
\ndiscussion by claiming publicly that their wage policy is fair
\nand reasonable, it seemed reasonable to ask the company to
\nexplain publicly whether their wage system is based on
\nresponsible financial considerations. To date Nike has not
\nresponded.<\/p>\n
Silence in response to a categorical question is construed in
\nthe law as assent. Should we then assume that Nike's silence is a
\ntacit acknowledgement that the wages of local workers are
\nunconscionably low? And what will be the Indonesian government's
\nresponse to Nike's silent admission that they cannot defend their
\nexploitation of Indonesian workers? Unfortunately, this is one
\nnationalism issue that does not yet seem to interest the
\npoliticians.<\/p>\n
DONNA K. WOODWARD<\/p>\n
Medan, North Sumatra<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/nikes-sound-of-silence-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }