Nike said Friday that it will cut 480 jobs in Asia,
accounting for about 30% of its global reductions, according
to Didi Tatlow of the AP. Nike spokesperson Martha Benson
said that Asia's economic troubles have "hurt sales" in the
region. Benson: "The cost of a shoe suddenly grows quite
significant when your currency drops in half." Nike's
22,000 person global work force will be cut by 7%,
accounting for $30M-$45M of an estimated $175M in
restructuring costs. Benson did not give details as to
where the Asian job cuts would occur (AP, 3/21). An
OREGONIAN editorial Friday addressed Nike's Asian layoffs:
"[M]aybe there's one bright side to this story. Maybe now
the U.S. labor activists who have made such a stink about
the 'exploitative' manufacturing jobs in Nike's Asian
subcontractors will lay off for a bit" (OREGONIAN, 3/20).
OR, THEN AGAIN, MAYBE THEY WON'T: In its "occasional
series on chasing cheap sweatshop labor," the PHILADELPHIA
INQUIRER examines Nike's contracting out to Vietnamese
factories under the header, "Vietnam Gives Nike A Run For
Its Money." In a front-page piece, Jennifer Lin writes that
Nike's foray into Vietnam "has been anything but business as
usual for Nike in its constant global search for cheap
labor." Although the company "found the eager, low-wage
workforce it covets, it did not bargain on such a rude
welcome from this Communist nation, where more than lip
service is paid to workers' rights. Nor did it anticipate
hostile local press coverage in a nation with no free
press." For Nike, one out of every ten pairs of its shoes
now comes from Vietnamese subcontractors, and Lin writes
that CEO Phil Knight will have to convince critics that
"$1.84 a day is a fair wage for Vietnamese workers"
(PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 3/23). In a related piece, PA State
Rep. Robert Belfanti has proposed a resolution that would
"force" Penn State Univ. to sever its ties with Nike because
of the company's "reported mistreatment of Asian workers."
Penn State recently extended its original deal which was
signed in '94 worth $2.6M over three years (INQUIRER, 3/23).
