Nike Sweatshops

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One company that uses sweat shops is Nike as you may already know. As their economies grew larger, the more productive workers became, wages rose, and many workers moved on to higher paying job. Labor unions also gained more influence. Nike found cheaper labor offered in Indonesia, People's Republic of China, and Vietnam, which prohibited labor unions. When workers demanded additional rights and benefits in these countries, the Nike factories closed and moved to a different location that would enable them to continue operating at a low cost. Throughout the 1990s, Nike was heavily criticized for selling goods produced in sweatshops. They originally denied claims against them. However in 2001, Nike director Todd McKean stated in an interview that the "initial attitude was, 'Hey, we don't own the factories. We don't control what goes on there.' Quite frankly, that was a sort of irresponsible way to approach this. We had people there every day looking at quality. Clearly, we had leverage and responsibility with certain parts of the business, so why not others?" In 2005, protesters at over 40 universities demanded that their institutions endorse companies who use "sweat-free" labor, unlike Nike. Many anti-sweatshop groups are student-led, such as the United Students Against Sweatshops.

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