With China and Vietnam holding a majority of Nike's factories, production is being done at very low costs due to cheap labor. With poorly enforced labor laws, along with the law prohibiting workers from forming unions, it is very easy to find workers in these countries. Although they do not personally own any of these factories, Nike contracts them and does all the decision-making; designs, materials, and most importantly prices. Many movements and protests have been created to make Nike take responsibility for the factory conditions, as well as raise conditions and wages.
[...] While Nike has documented an assessment of the conditions in Indonesia and claim that the workers are treated well with no children working long hours while being paid well, contrary to that is the position of Vietnamese workers who apparently get paid twenty cents an hour. Fifteen Vietnamese women told CBS News that they were hit over the head by their supervisor for poor sewing, with two of them being sent to the hospital afterward. Physical abuse also occurs in Vietnamese factories. [...]
[...] Sneakers and Nike products in general seem to target an array of people; ranging from about age five to sixty five. Athletes and other celebrities act in commercials, and have their faces pasted on billboards just for the money, with a portion of the profit going to them. These wealthy athletes make more money on the profit from a pair of shoes than a worker in China or Vietnam makes for their daily labor. Customers themselves are evidently the reason for unfair wages and terrible conditions. [...]
[...] If consumers were informed or perhaps provided with accurate information about the wages or the child labor, then the word would be past along and many changes would occur in order to keep Nike up and running. Awareness and action by the people is the key factor in changing the conditions of the Nike sweatshops and factories. One man took the risk of ordering a customized pair of Nike sneakers on their website, asking for the word “sweatshop” to be written on his sneaker, and naturally, Nike refused. [...]
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