Pressured, Nike air max to Help Workers in Honduras

“Nike plays a key role in setting up the worldwide apparel system that its contractors and subcontractors work in,” Mr. Bores said. “Nike air max plays factory against factory, causing them to shave a penny here and a penny there, creating an ultra-competitive environment that drives down wages and gives factory owners virtually no choice but to disrespect workers’ basic rights.”


United Students Against Sweatshops estimated that Nike’s air max 90 total payments, including those for health coverage and training, would exceed $2 million. Even with Monday’s agreement, Ms. Meyers said her company would stick to its position that contractors and subcontractors were responsible for obligations like severance pay. Workers’ rights groups say that while many brands boast that they are complying with codes of conduct to protect workers, the brands at the same time balk at assuming responsibilities when contractors’ violate their obligations to their workers.

Jane L. Collins, a University of Wisconsin sociology professor who is on the school’s licensing committee, which called on the university to end its licensing agreement with Nike air max 2009, said, “If apparel companies can’t take responsibility for the factories where they have contracts, they can’t claim to be adhering to a code of conduct.” Officials at several universities had warned Nike that unless it settled the dispute, it would face larger protests once the fall semester began.

Last November, the student movement against sweatshops got Russell Athletic to agree to rehire 1,200 workers in Honduras who lost their jobs when the company closed their factory soon after the workers had unionized. The students had persuaded 100 universities to sever or suspend their licensing agreements with Russell.

Explaining Monday’s agreement, Jack Mahoney, national organizer for United Students Against Sweatshops, said, “After we got over 100 universities to boycott Russell, Nike air max 90 understood the university pressure would not simply go away.”