Nike Chair Phil Knight is listed among the "Winners" of
TIME's "Notebook" for announcing the company's new labor
policy initiatives overseas: "Nike CEO will end child labor
and improve factories abroad. Go, Phil -- now hike that
minimum wage!" (TIME, 5/25 issue). In Dallas, Kevin
Blackistone writes on Nike's planned reforms and states that
wearing Nike products "was becoming increasingly
uncomfortable, at least for me. The only reason I hadn't
yet turned a shoulder to Nike, as I once did consumer
companies that did business with apartheid South Africa, was
because Nike did so many good things in the world of sports.
It championed women's athletics. It opened its boardroom to
minorities. It stood up for athletes it thought had been
wronged." Blackistone adds that the only issue that Knight
failed to address in his announcement was "pay, which he
should have. But, this was a start. ... When the results
come in, hopefully I'll feel better" (DALLAS MORNING NEWS,
5/19). A SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS editorial stated that "as
the first step to win back consumers' respect, Nike needs to
show that it can take responsibility for how its products
are made. If it can monitor the quality of athletic shoes
made in Indonesia and Vietnam, it should be able to monitor
the quality of the air in the factory" (MERCURY NEWS, 5/18).
AIR QUALITY: Michael Jordan, who earlier this year
announced offseason plans to visit Nike's Asian plants, on
the planned reforms: "I'm pretty sure people are going to
say that there was some pressure put upon (Knight) to make
those changes. But if there's a need, then he has to. I
don't think that's going to alter my trip at all. ... I've
still got to go for myself" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/19).
