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Not everyone's in the pink

By Daisy Gardener - posted Friday, 1 February 2013


So, two sections of the same company have vastly different – and competing - mandates.

This pressure for the lowest price is passed directly on to workers who frequently face harassment or dismissal if they try to negotiate better pay or conditions.

There are one million workers making Nike products in 43 countries; the majority are women aged 18-24.

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These young women bear the brunt of unfair conditions.

In addition to low wages and insecure employment, women workers are often subjected to gender-specific abuses of their rights, including sexual harassment and discrimination against workers who become pregnant.

Nike does not own these supplier factories, so is able to stay at arm's length from the conditions.

To deal with this problem, Indonesian worker representatives, with Oxfam's support, have negotiated directly with Nike and Adidas over the past two years to develop a set of guidelines for supplier factories, with the aim of ensuring workers are treated fairly.

The guidelines, known as the Protocol, complement existing Indonesian law and focus specifically on the right to organise and collectively bargain for better conditions.

The Protocol goes further than Nike's code of conduct by detailing exactly howworkers in Indonesian factories should be free to organise better conditions without being subject to intimidation or harassment.

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Over the past year, Nike, along with several other brands such as Adidas and Puma, has begun rolling out the Protocol to its supplier factories across Indonesia.

If the Protocol is implemented, it has the potential to improve conditions for hundreds of thousands of sportswear workers.

But without Nike and others providing real incentives for their supplier factories, like fair prices and long-term contracts, this important initiative could fail.

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About the Author

Daisy Gardener is Oxfam Australia's Labour Rights Coordinator. She has twelve years experience in women's rights and corporate accountability. Prior to joining Oxfam Australia in 2007 Daisy was the campaign coordinator for FairWear, focusing on the rights of home-based garment workers in Australia. She has published in Gender and Development. She lives in Melbourne.

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