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Letter
from Nike Workers to Tiger Woods
Wednesday, 9 January 2002, 12:18 pm
Dear Tiger Woods,
We are grateful for the chance
to present you with information about the situation of Nike
workers in Thailand.
First, we would like to be
clear that we have the utmost respect for your skill and
perseverance as an athlete. Second, we wish to express that
Thai workers need the jobs that Nike provides and are willing
to work hard.
However, no one should have
to experience the deplorable working conditions and wages
that Nike employees face.
It is estimated that there
are 70,000 workers producing Nike products in Thailand.
Additionally, thousands of
Thais are employed as migrant laborers at factories producing
for Nike in Taiwan. It is on behalf of these tens of thousands
of workers that we appeal to you to use your influence as
a respected athlete and as a benefactor of Nike™s success
to push for better working conditions.
Mr. Woods, your current contract
with Nike nets you $100 million US over a five year period.
In contrast an average Nike worker in Bangkok earns the Thai
minimum wage of 162 baht per day - $4 US and workers in the
provinces earn 130 baht per day - $3 US.
This means that a Thai Nike
worker must work for 26.5 million days or 72,000 years to
receive what you will earn during this contract.
A Thai garment worker must work for
14,000 days or 38 years to earn your daily salary of US$55,000.
To look at this in reverse,
Nike spends the equivalent of 14,000 workers™ salaries
to pay you for one day. Even though Nike workers are earning
the daily minimum wage, most of them end up working far more
than an eight hour day.
Many of them routinely work
until 10 pm and sometimes until 2 am to earn overtime pay
which they need to make ends meet. Many workers are not paid
hourly, but by piece, causing them to stay long hours to
finish quotas.
Aside from not earning enough,
Nike workers in Thailand face abysmal working conditions.
Workers often are not issued proper safety equipment and
suffer job injuries.
Thai migrant workers at Nike
factories in Taiwan are only permitted to use the bathroom
for five minutes per day, leading workers to suffer kidney
infections and other health problems.
When workers organize and try
to improve these conditions they are harassed or fired. Or
worse, the factory closes and shifts to non-union production
where wages and benefits are even worse.
For instance, in September
the Thai Iryo Garment factory which produced for Nike shut
down. Nike shifted production to VT Garment in Sathupradit
and Garment Tech factory in Bangkok, neither of which have
a union.
Mr. Woods, we ask that you
use your influence with Nike to push for the following extremely
reasonable requests:
1) Nike must pay the equivalent
of a living wage in the countries in which it produces. This
living wage must enable a worker to support two dependents
and live decently.
2) Nike must allow workers
to unionize and provide protection for labour leaders.
3) Nike must take responsibility
for conditions in both its factories and subcontracting facilities.5)
Nike must implement its own code of conduct and safety requirements.
Signed, Nikeworkers.org and Thailabour.org
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