Oluwakemi Oyesile
MGT 200
Dr. Magee-Egan
Case #3
03/13/06
NIKE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Nike’s responsibilities for the working conditions in the factories of their overseas suppliers had a societal significance. The societal significance perspective views coverage and treatment as a reflection of the news media’s perception of the significance of an issue to society. Issues high on the societal significance dimension include health, safety, environmental protection, human rights, security and social justice. The Nike allegations were based on three issues considered to be centered on the wage level, the employment of children, and abusive practices. The first was abusive treatment of workers, such as the well-publicized incidents described in the case. The second was health and safety standards in the factories. The activists and labor unions argued that the same standards as in the United States should be maintained in factories that produced for export to the United States. The third was wages with activists and labor unions arguing for a “living wage” rather than the market wage or the minimum wage set by the government. In other words, Nike keeps its profits high by subcontracting its production to the lowest-wage countries in the world and then failing to pay its workers a fair wage.
The Concerns about the condition of the factories of overseas supplies in Asia began to increase in the early 1990s. A lot of manufacturing jobs were being moved or outsourced to countries in Asia due to the recession. The main critics were human rights activists such as Global Exchange and labor unions. The human rights groups were concerned with the abuse of labor rights of workers. Labor unions were also concerned about labor rights but were probably more concerned about jobs for their members in the United States. The movement of production from the United States to East Asia resulted in the loss of union jobs, and the unions sought to stem the flow. One way to do so was to raise the costs of overseas production. The objective is to reduce the competiveness of imports that threaten union jobs in the United States. The labor unions focused on wages and health and safety conditions. Women’s activist groups were also involved because most of the employees were women. The human rights organizations, women’s groups, and organized labor were in agreement on these issues. Concerns must be turned into action, which requires a strategy. The basic strategies of activists are putting direct pressure on firms by calling attention to the activities of that firm.