Nike's commitment

Nike's commitment

The article titled Nike workers in RI an issue in Olympics,
published in The Jakarta Post on Sept. 5, 2000, does a disservice
to your readers and to Indonesian business.

Nike has been committed to improving work place conditions in
Indonesia for several years, and will continue these efforts
despite attempts by publicly declared critics to find ways to
generate negative news coverage of our efforts. At the very
least, your readers deserve to know that Mr. Keady is a principal
in a lawsuit filed against Nike in the United States almost a
year ago, and that he publicly stated before coming to Indonesia
that his intention was to expose poor treatment of our contract
factory workers.

Given his mission, is it, therefore, surprising that he
"found" exploitation, intimidation and harassment of workers? You
should note that he has not provided specific information that
would allow independent clarification. And what did he ignore?
Here are a few of the things Indonesian factories making Nike
products are doing, and have been doing, in some cases for years,
some of which the Post has reported on.
* Together with the Indonesian Ministry of Education and our
factory partners, Nike is providing an after-hours education
program for workers who have not completed their formal
elementary, junior and senior high school studies. This program
has been praised by the government of Indonesia as a step forward
in eliminating illiteracy.
* While being sensitive to the local economic condition and
issues, our footwear factory contractors have increased minimum
wages above the locally mandated wage four times in the past two
years, as well as eliminating the lower training wage and
providing benefits and supplements for workers so that they are
better able to support other family members, including children.
* Nike contract factories have begun the implementation of an
occupational health care survey in cooperation with International
SOS. The survey assesses the occupational health issues at the
factory, as well as the function of the factory medical clinic.
International SOS then makes recommendations and works with the
factory to address the areas found to need improvements.

* In late June 2000, Nike provided on-site factory visits and
facilities so that local non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
some of which have been highly critical of Nike, could receive
training in how to monitor health and safety issues. More than 40
representatives from various local NGOs and workers unions
participated.

These are very difficult times for all Indonesians. We are
proud of the efforts our factory partners have made. While other
multinationals chose to leave, Nike publicly declared its
intention to stay and support stability and job creation here.
More than 110,000 Indonesians work in 11 footwear, 13 apparel and
three equipment factories making Nike products, which we believe
is a significant factor in helping this country and its people
built a future.

With leadership comes responsibility, and while we acknowledge
that our process is not perfect, the reforms that have taken
place, and the lengths to which we've gone to ensure compliance
and monitoring are as accurate as possible, demonstrates our
commitment to continuous improvement.

TONY NAYA

Manufacturing General Manager

Nike Inc., Indonesia