Nike Inc. said significant problems remain in working conditions in China and with managers there not meeting Nike's standards. The findings were contained in a supplement to its 05/06 corporate responsibility report released on its website earlier this month. Nike said it decided to release a country-specific responsibility report because the 2008 Olympics in Beijing are attracting so much attention to China.
In the report, Nike detailed the efforts it has been making to get suppliers to comply with its code of conduct and Chinese law, including a program to monitor Olympics-related suppliers this year.
“As China continues to develop we see progress and best practices emerging,” said the report. “But like our partners in any other country, the factories we contract with in China continue to face challenges as well.”
The report noted problems including falsification of factory documents such as payroll records, lack of effective grievance systems for disgruntled workers and hiring practices that did not ensure minimum age standards were met.
The report said China is Nike's largest single sourcing country, with some 180 manufacturers and about 210,000 employees. Roughly a third of Nike's shoes are made in China.
Last year, Nike rolled out a program to check the identity of some 150,000 of its workers in China and found 167 cases of people who were below minimum-age standards when they were hired but were now 18 or older. Two people were found to be underage.
“Although we understand that it is often a slow, incremental process to bring about change, we strongly believe that there is much more that can be done,” the report states.
Nike said improving conditions for workers throughout its global supply chain “continues to be one of our greatest priorities.”
