Vietnamese Shoemakers Walk Out On Nike
More Than 20,000 Strike Demanding Higher Pay From Sports Apparel Giant
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Nike's contractors in Vietnam make about 75 million pairs of shoes each year. (AP)
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Fast Facts Vietnam Learn about the people, economy and history.
The workers at Ching Luh plant, in southern Long An province, went on strike Monday. They want a 20 percent bump to their $59 average monthly salaries along with better lunches at the company cafeteria, said Nguyen Van Thua, an official with the province's trade union.
The plant has been making sneakers since 2002 and employs about 21,000 workers, most of them young rural women. The company is paying the workers 14 percent more than minimum wage, but soaring inflation is eroding their earnings, Thua said.
"The company has followed the Vietnamese laws in paying their workers, but given the fact that consumer prices are soaring day by day, the workers have had troubles with their daily expenses," Thua said.
Ching Luh plant is one of 10 factories that contract with Nike to produce sneakers in Vietnam. Nike's contractors in Vietnam make about 75 million pairs of shoes each year, and the Ching Luh plant accounts for about 12 percent, said Nike spokesman Chris Helzer.
"We recognize the impact that rising inflation has had on the people of Vietnam, and hope the situation will be resolved quickly and amicably," he said.
Consumer prices in Vietnam are 19 percent higher than they were a year ago, according to government figures. Hanoi responded in January by increasing the minimum wage foreign-owned companies are required to pay by roughly 13 percent.
As inflation has picked up in recent years, strikes have become more common, with workers demanding higher pay and better working conditions.
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."





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See all 44 CommentsAllegedly Puma, Umbro, Fila, Adidas, Reebok, and ASICS also exploit their workers according to a report by Oxfam.
Leave their goods gathering dust in the shops until they learn the real meaning of fair play.
Posted by yongamerica at 02:27 PM : Apr 01, 2008
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Make no mistake about it, those manufacturing jobs will not return to the United States until our working class finally reaches true third-world status.
It is absolutely certain that we will reach that level because the only jobs available are service industry jobs and the wealth/assets of the working class will continue to evaporate.
As a wise person said not too long ago: That loud, sucking sound you hear is the wealth/assets of the working class being swirled away like a giant vacuum.
And who''d work for scab wages; though if the rumors of sweatshop conditions are true...? And will those shoes now cost $300 instead of $150?
Refuse to buy ANY Off-Shored Corporate Sweat Shop goods. Shut off your cable and tune out the Corporate Fascist Nooz. You don''t need their crapp, let ''em shrivel up and die.
This is so bad it hurts my soul
Pass this story to every man woman in the known world let us UNite against this Giant who by the way is in my backyard in Oregon and let us send a resounding message that we simply wont allow such things to occur anymore.
I could hire the workers here, buy the machines required and still turn a profit and make a great shoe this is so unnecessary in todays world
Grow up phill and stop doing business this way
And don''t think they sell them any cheaper over there, they don''t. They are just as expensive to buy.
give them a 5 dollar a month raise so they can start investing their huge profits in stock market..L.O..L...
I cant even begin to think of the amount of profit nike makes on each pair of shoes they sell...
This is great news!
Boeing will now be able to have a cheap labor force for outsourcing its labor.
Too bad these kids aren''t a little older and smarter so they could work for the airlines or at meat packing plants.
The possibilities are endless!
Just think what they''d do for $65.00/mo. and some twinkies!
But where can they outsource to from Vietnam? Chad?
The race to the bottom.
Boycott Nike.
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Posted by dragonwagon5
they used to have the right to work. now they will be replaced by ones who want to work. the way of the world
wow, really?
"We might have a downfalll, but it''''s not from favoring the rich. It will be from being such pushovers and giving in to every crying baby that asks for something to be handed to him rather than work for it."
Posted by smiley676
There are a lot of factors that are involved in the implosion of the economy, but unbridled greed is certainly a contributor. Many of the people you''re stereotyping as crybabies work hard. Welfare queens no longer exist, if they ever did.
When employers lose sight of the fact that in a capitalist society one hand has to wash the other--that exploitation and maintaining a permanent underclass so that you will have low wage workers who will help support higher wages for management cannot be maintained indefinitely without a backlash--they invite economic disintegration. The more inclusive an economy is, the more successful it is. Forgetting that can have dire consequences. Relearning the lesson can be equally painful. Taxes are necessary to maintain the infrastructure of a civil society. If you want to cut government spending, reduce the salaries of bureaucrats. Then you will attract people who are dedicated, not people looking to get rich at the taxpayers'' expense. Institute a fair, flat tax rate for individuals and businesses. These are common sense solutions. All we need are public servants ethical enough to enact them. We had them in 1776, and I think they do still exist.
The price of products has been contained but the quality has been significantly reduced. Americans in general can''t afford the quality of product that is made in the USA because so many US jobs that provided value-added were replaced by menial service jobs that provide little value added.
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