Young sees no abuse of Asian Nike workers

Young sees no abuse of Asian Nike workers

ATLANTA (Reuter): Workers at Nike Inc. factories in Asia are well-treated, but many are unaware of their rights and are often supervised by managers who don't speak their language, former U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young said Tuesday.

In a 74-page report on Nike's labor practices abroad, Young said the 12 factories he visited in China, Vietnam and Indonesia in March and April "were clean, organized, adequately ventilated and well-lit."

While saying that "minimum global wages and standards are desperately needed," his report said it would be unfair to single out Nike for paying workers in developing countries less than they would earn in the United States. At a news conference, Young said worker wages would eventually increase.

Young -- who championed human rights while U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Carter administration -- was hired by Beaverton, Ore.-based Nike to conduct an independent review its international labor practices following reports of sweatshop conditions and child labor in the apparel and footwear industries.

"I found no evidence or pattern of widespread or systematic abuse or mistreatment of workers in these 12 factories," Young said in his report. However, he urged the company to improve grievance procedures and establish worker representatives, ombudsmen and third-party monitoring so that workers could complain without fear of retribution.

"I was disappointed at how few of the plant managers actually spoke the local language. This obviously works against easy communication and a strong relationship between the workers and the management," Young said.

Young said confidential audits by the international accounting firm Ernst & Young found that religious holidays and days off were regularly denied to certain workers, workers on one factory shift were made to work overtime against their will and some workers were paid "training" or "probationary" wages beyond their actual training period.

The audits also found one worker was consistently paid less than the minimum wage over an extended period of time, Young's report said.

The report was immediately criticized by human rights groups, which said Nike workers in Indonesia stage wildcat strikes constantly because they are paid $2.46 per day in a country where the basic subsistence wage is $4 per day.

"Nike has spent millions of dollars buying off major athletes. Now it's bought off Andrew Young," said Medea Benjamin, president of the San Francisco-based human rights group Global Exchange.

"Young has betrayed the legacy of the civil rights movement that stood up for the poor and oppressed," said Benjamin, referring to Young's civil rights work.

Young said he was given full access to Nike workers without the presence of company management as part of his mandate from Nike.

He said his investigation found a majority of contract workers did not know the company had established a "code of conduct" which bans the use of forced labor or underage workers, requires payment of the minimum wage and legally mandated benefits and also addresses work hours, overtime, health and safety, and environmental regulations.

"Less than half of the workers making Nike product knew what the code was, could explain it or was able to understand how it might help them with their particular problem or grievance," Young said.

Because of Young's report, Nike said it would impose a monetary penalty system for factories violating its code of conduct and terminate contractors who do not adhere to it despite repeated coaching and penalties.