According to The Exponent, Purdue's Student Newspaper, the university's athletic director on Jan. 14 joined a group of other university athletic directors on a Nike-sponsored trip to factories in China and Vietnam. The ten-day tour comes as Nike faces pressure from labor groups over the closing of two factories in Honduras that Nike had allegedly acquired product from under a subcontractor arrangement.
Morgan Burke, Purdue's athletic director, told the The Exponent that the trip was planned prior to the Honduras issues came to light.
The Purdue athletic director, who spent 10 days in Vietnam and China touring five factories, also said he doesn't feel any of the facilities were “sweatshops,” describing them as mostly “well-kept, organized and controlled.”
Burke also told the paper that he didn't feel that Nike had orchestrated the trip where those invited were only allowed to see certain parts of its manufacturing process.
“I don't get the sense at all that I was brought over there to just see certain things; I had too much freedom to get out in the factory and walk around for that,” he said. “I think (Nike was) pretty proud of what they'd accomplished.”
As reported, The University of Wisconsin-Madison and Purdue University both said in December they were reviewing alleged workers' rights abuses at two factories run by Nike subcontractors in Honduras. Both factories were reportedly shut down without notice in January and failed to pay workers a total of more than $2 million in severance and back wages. Both schools said they may end their contracts with Nike.
