Nike Facing Worker Abuse Claims at Converse Plant

Nike Inc. is facing new claims of worker abuse in Indonesia. The report stemmed from interviews in March and April by the Associated Press of dozens of workers at Pou Chen Group factory in Sukabumi, about 60 miles  from Jakarta that make Converse shoes. 

Among the charges are that supervisors throw shoes at workers, slap and kick them, and call them dogs and pigs. Converse products werent made at the factory until four years after Nike bought Converse.

Hannah Jones, VP of sustainable business and innovation at Nike, reportedly told at AP that the company’s own inquiries also found workers at the two factories were subjected to “serious and egregious” physical and verbal abuse.

“We do see other issues of that similar nature coming up across the supply chain but not on a frequent level,” she told the AP. “We see issues of working conditions on a less egregious nature across the board.”

Nike also reportedly released information to the AP that shows nearly two-thirds of 168 factories making Converse products worldwide fail to meet Nike’s own standards for contract manufacturers.

Twelve are in the most serious category, indicating problems that could range from illegally long work hours to denying access to Nike inspectors. Another 97 are in a category defined as making no progress in improving problems ranging from isolated verbal harassment to paying less than minimum wage. A further six factories had not been audited by Nike.

Nike blames problems on pre-existing licenses to produce Converse product that it says prevent the parent company from inspecting factories or introducing its own code of conduct. Some of the licensees also subcontract production. Nike said it is working to renegotiate those agreements or take over the license as terms come up for renewal.

“We have been working every time we can to renew those agreements or change those agreements or to cease those agreements and to ensure that when we do new agreements we get more ability to influence the licensee and their subcontractors much more directly,” Jones said.