Nike Progress

Nike is a large multinational corporation. The size of this business draws criticism from many labor force groups and those who oppose underage workers in third world countries. Many of the decisions Nike makes come under fire because of their labor practices. Although there are many negative attributions associated to Nike in third world countries, there are positive changes the corporation is making in improving working conditions.

Nike was looked down upon in the 90s due to their increasing profits and their outsourcing of products in poor countries. In those times when problems occurred the public relations staff would hurry off and extinguish any falsehoods by either, closing factories, or denying these claims. Many critics find problems in the 900 supplier factories in as many as 50 countries. Nike has implemented a team to go in and inspect hundreds of these factories and make sure they are all up to grade with labor laws and working conditions. They have visited over 600 factories and even revisited the places with the most problems. They have also encouraged the Fair Labor Association to follow up on these factories and add input on any wrongdoings. For those countries that keep violating the labor codes, Nike is quick to pull their production from those areas. Nike has also expanded its inspections to environmental and health issues regarding the safety of its employees.

Public demonstrations are not as common anymore with the Nike Corporation. This is due in part of the implemented staff Nike has hired dealing with factory inspections and labor laws. The inspectors however are limited and not able to catch all problems surrounding the many factories. Many protesters are able to go straight to the company itself and identify any problems. These problems are then taken into consideration and looked at in depth. Many other retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target who can control their prices, for the most part, do practically nothing for regulating labor in other countries.

While Nike is making progress, it is far from being a beneficial place to work in third world countries. This is due to their ability to move to countries that will not let its workers create a union. This keeps labor cheap and the ability for Nike to keep producing many products. Although Nike implementing new labor conditions will help the working conditions for its employees, it still fails to recognize the payroll disparity faced by the workers.


Reference- http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_38/b3900011_mz001.htm

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