SEE Magazine
Copyright © 1998. All Rights Reserved.
NEWS FRONT
BY SEE STAFFHe knows the importance of wearing sensible footwear but you'll never catch Eugene Plawiuk sporting a pair of Nike running shoes.
Plawiuk is one of the organizers of a teach-in being staged April 18 at the University of Alberta, to teach consumers about sweatshops, child labor and Nike shoes. He and a group called Citizens Concerned About Nike plan on letting Edmontonians know what they can do about sweatshops operating a half a world away.
But isn't that stuff about Nike exploiting children in slave labor conditions all just some nasty urban legend?
No. It's documented.
"We know that their operations have moved basically out of North America into developing countries, originally to the Philippines and Korea and now they're in Indonesia, Vietnam and China," said Plawiuk, who wears Florsheims or Doc Martens.
"They move wherever there is non-unionized, cheap labor and use Korean and Taiwanese subcontractors so they can claim an arm's length independence from them - but they have had long-term relationships."
Plawiuk says Nike spends approximately $2.60 to produce a pair of shoes, yet sells them at retail prices ranging from $70 to $140. North Americans are willing to pay the price for the shoes and people in developing countries have no choice but to accept wages in the range of 26 cents per day, he adds.
Investigations have shown these workers are forced to put in overtime, working six 10-hour days per week. Efforts to organize workers often end in violence, he says.
Initial studies on labor practices used by Nike's subcontractors indicated that managers worked with governments to break unions.
"We're talking physical torture, like people being beaten up in the manager's office," Plawiuk said.
"This happened again about two years ago in one of the Indonesian factories. And in Vietnam, documentation by independent investigators shows there have been beatings at the Saigon site . . . and they, in fact, fail to pay the minimum wages that are guaranteed in Vietnam."
If the sporting goods company would apply one per cent of its current advertising budget to wages for workers, Plawiuk estimates "that would increase those workers to a living wage."
He and other organizers are concerned about Nike's takeover of Bauer sporting goods, too. Last year Nike bought the hockey equipment company and has begun to move those manufacturing operations overseas as well. Of 14,000 Nike employees worldwide, just 2,500 are unionized - and those are the Bauer employees, Plawiuk notes.
"When Nike took over (Bauer) in '97, they moved to shut down one of its top plants in Oshawa, they purchased the intellectual property rights (for manufacturing hockey equipment), they bought the patents and manufacturing techniques and what they've done is they're moving operations off shore again.
"Our concern is not some jingoistic nationalism. It's workers being paid a fair wage and having a right to union representation."
Plawiuk says there's a growing international movement to have shops owned by Nike monitored by groups such as Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch.
The teach-in will help educate consumers about employment practices and point out the weak spots of the sporting goods giant. Nike's major distributor in Canada, for instance, is Footlocker, which is owned in turn by Woolworth, which has been investigated on charges of running sweatshops in Toronto.
But what can one person in Edmonton do about this?
"There are a few things you can do. Let Nike know, if you buy their products, that you will not purchase their products until they start paying living wages. Send your old shoes back to them."
It's also effective to write retailers expressing your concerns about the products they carry.
"You make them aware of the fact that you are concerned about where these products are coming from," Plawiuk said.
"It's a campaign of consumer awareness."
The teach-in runs at the International Centre, 172 Hub Mall, from 1- 3 p.m.
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