RI worker protests outside Nike Town

RI worker protests outside Nike Town

CHICAGO (UPI): A former worker at an Indonesian factory that
makes Nike shoes is seeking a meeting with executives of the
athletic-wear giant and the company's most visible spokesperson,
basketball superstar Michael Jordan.

Cicih Sukaesih spoke Monday outside the Nike Town store in
Chicago's ritzy Michigan Avenue shopping district and accused
Nike of subcontracting with Southeast Asian companies that pay
workers barely US$2 a day and subject them to harsh working
conditions.

"We work under very difficult conditions...and we're paid a
very, very low wage," Sukaesih said through interpreter Jeffrey
Winters, a Northwestern University professor who helped organize
her appearance. "The wage is not enough for us to live on."

Sukaesih said she was fired from a plant in Indonesia in 1992
for trying to organize workers. She was making US$1.20 a day at
the time. The minimum daily wage has since been raised by the
government to US$2.25.

Sukaesih said she wants to bring her story to Jordan and Nike
executives, which she will attempt to do during her next stop in
Portland, Ore.

"We have tried to contact (Jordan) and so far he has not shown
the slightest interest," she said. "I would like him to do the
same thing Kathie Lee Gifford has done, which is to take
responsibility for the conditions of the workers that make the
products that they endorse and promote."

Jordan's contract with Nike reportedly is worth around US$20
million. His basketball shoes at Nike Town sell for between US$70
to US$140.

"I was really upset when I discovered how much Michael Jordan
was being paid for his endorsements and when I saw how much Nike
shoes cost here," Sukaesih said.

Nike has also received criticism for allegedly using child
labor to produce soccer balls in Pakistan.

The Beaverton, Ore.-based company released a statement Monday,
saying it has used its influence to improve the situation at
Sukaesih's former plant and elsewhere.

"This is an example of the benefit Nike brings in upgrading
labor practices in emerging market societies," the statement
read.

Nike said it employs about 800 people to oversee conditions
among its subcontractors, allows independent reviews of the
facilities and pays, on average, double the minimum wage.

"U.S. labor organizers continue to focus on sporadic instances
from four and five years ago when Nike's subcontracting in
Indonesia was first beginning," Nike said.

"We prefer to focus on the proactive changes that have
occurred since that time."

The company said it has created "highly-desirable jobs."