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Project | Nike

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What Did Nike Just Do?!

 

Nike is trying to prevent the WRC from accesses or inspecting any of their factories. Not only does this undermine all the progress we’ve made over the last 20 years, but it will have serious implications for workers around the world who need the ability to communicate with the WRC when their basic rights are violated. Nike has a long track record of human rights and labor violations in their supplier factories - we just can’t trust them to monitor their own factories.

 

In light of this students across the country are demanding Nike allow the WRC to access and inspect all of its factories. If Nike fails to comply, Nike should no longer be allowed to make apparel for our school.

 

• What is the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC)?

The WRC is an independent labor rights organization that conducts independent inspections of factories where our University apparel is produced. Over 200 colleges and Universities around the country are affiliated, including ours. The WRC is unique in that it is completely independent of the brands and therefore provides reliable information about the working conditions in the factories where our University apparel is made.

 

• How will Nike’s decision impact workers around the world?

Without access to the WRC, workers around the world will not have the ability to communicate with trusted inspectors outside their factory when their basic rights are violated. The WRC -- widely considered to represent the Gold Standard of independent monitoring and the world’s premier anti-sweatshop watchdog -- has spent over ten years responding to cases of wage theft, unjust firings, violent union retaliation, workplace harassment, owed severance, etc. Why is Nike not allowing its workers access to such robust workplace monitoring? What does Nike have to hide?

 

• How long will you be running this campaign?

We plan on making this demand of the University until Nike complies with our school’s code of conduct and allows the WRC access to monitor its factories. If Nike fails to fix its violation of our code of conduct, we are asking Georgetown to terminate our licensing and sponsorship agreement with Nike.

 

• Why can’t Nike be trusted without the WRC monitoring them?

Nike has a long history of labor rights violations throughout their supply chain and the WRC has done a lot over the last ten years to help resolve those violations so that workers producing Nike apparel can have the best possible conditions. Nike cannot be trusted to monitor itself and voluntarily remediate its own violations without an independent, third-party watchdog.

 

• I heard the Fair Labor Association and Better Work will still have access, isn’t that good enough?

The Fair Labor Association (FLA) is financed by the very same brands whose factories they inspect. In fact, the board is comprised of apparel brands and Nike used to be one of them. How can we trust an organization that monitors factories using representatives paid for by the brands themselves? We can’t! Students and workers around the world have put overwhelming trust in the credible inspections and reporting of the WRC.

 

• Can we get in trouble?

Athletes and non-athletes are totally safe! This is a student movement, and it is well in your rights as both students and athletes to be a part of this organization. No one can lose scholarships or be kicked off teams!

 

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