YOUNG RESPONDS TO OP-ED PIECE CRITICAL OF HIS NIKE REPORT

          In a letter to the editor published in Sunday's N.Y.
     TIMES, Andrew Young responded to Bob Herbert's "In America"
     June 27 op-ed piece criticizing Young's report on labor
     practices at Nike's overseas factories.  Responding to
     Herbert calling him "naive," Young wrote, "I plead guilty to
     idealism and optimism, but I have been through too many
     human rights battles to be called naive."  Young said Nike's
     staff at Asian factories was "idealistic, sports-centered,
     socially isolated Westerners struggling with the demands of
     production.  Their focus was quality control, without which
     there would be no jobs for anybody."  Young wrote that the
     issue of wages "is seen by many as the primary structural
     abuse.  I do not feel qualified to determine a living wage
     in Vietnam or Indonesia, but workers spoke ... of saving
     money and sending it home.  Western clothing [and] motor
     scooters ... did not give the impression of 'starvation
     wages'" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/6).  ESPN SportsZone features a
     debate over Young's report between Nike Asia Pacific Dir of
     Comm. Martha Benson and Michael Posner, Exec Dir/Lawyers
     Committee for Human Rights (ESPN SportsZone).