Nike

9 Pages 2348 Words

to change their ways,
nothing would happen. I believe that more of the public pressure Dr. Rudell discussed
needs to be put into action until Nike factory conditions are brought to humane standards
(Greene 1998). Indonesia is one of the main locations for these factories, as well as the
rest of Southeast Asia. In these countries the minimal working age is fourteen, as opposed
to sixteen in the United States. Even at the age of sixteen, though, the jobs one can
perform in America are limited. Nike voluntarily made an agreement to only hire workers
age sixteen and up. Despite this publicly announced agreement, Nike continuously had
many children ages fourteen and fifteen working in their factories. In an interview with
film producer Michael Moore, Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight was not even aware of
what his company’s labor practice regulations were. Nike’s Director of Labor Practices,
Dusty Kidd, had to brief Mr. Knight on their policy in the midst of the interview. If the
company CEO does not even know the labor practice regulations, how can the institution
be following these rules at lower levels (“Nike’s New Labor,” 1998,pA18)? Recently, in
response to the pressure put on Nike by the media, human rights activists, and concerned
consumers, the minimum working ages were finally raised. At a press conference in
Washington on May 12, 1998, Nike Chief Executive Phil Knight announced that the
minimum age requirement for workers in shoe factories was going to be raised from
fourteen to eighteen and the minimum age requirement for the apparel factories from
fourteen to sixteen. Although these changes are a major step in the right direction, these
new regulations do not apply to current employees. The fact that this regalia does not
apply to the present staff means that there are still children under the ages of sixteen and
eighteen working in the factories. Nike only increased the age limits in an attempt to
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