Vietnamese Shoemakers Walk Out On Nike

More Than 20,000 Strike Demanding Higher Pay From Sports Apparel Giant

(AP)  More than 20,000 Vietnamese workers have walked off the job at a Taiwanese-owned plant that makes shoes for Nike Inc., demanding higher pay to keep pace with skyrocketing prices, officials said Tuesday.

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.

[number10thou]

Well so much for communism helping regular people. Was talking to young guy at Da Nang U whose Uncle had been a VC. He said the party members kids all had the good stuff now..what''s the difference? I said there is none. He said we weren''t really fighting for Communism, we were fighting against Imperialism. This strange guy..we weren''t really fighting for Imperialism, we were fighting against Communism..this is getting interesting..but then he just disappeared..for some reason. Then we became a refugee center, and now I have Vietnamese and Laotian friends..somebody threw us together back then..and then they just shook the jar..they knew what we would do to each other...for them.

[stezzer]

Get lost Nike..."Just Do It"...

Allegedly 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.

[swwils]

Nike needs to cough up the green ,those poor people work in sweat shop conditions so the CEO''s and CFO''s can get their golden parachutes.Screw that,make the executives stitch those shoes themselves.No that is blue collar work they would never get one pair completed in a month.

[jn122736]

I''''m glad to see the workers stand up for better pay. Considering the $58 per month salary these workers are making and how inflated Nike shoe prices are compared to these wages, It seems that the upper management can together afford to loose a million dollars in bonuses to meet the rising economies of third world countries or bring their manufacturing back to the US.
Posted by yongamerica at 02:27 PM : Apr 01, 2008
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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.

[hypnotoad72]

Uh-oh. WWTWD? What Would Tiger Woods Do? :eek:

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?

[veteran72]

Trust me, if Corporate Scumbags could get away with chaining your asss to a machine and beat and whip you into working 18 hrs a day, 7 days a week, believe me, they''d be doing it. Boycott ALL Corporate Bushitt.
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.

[hissteps4u]

It is time to boycott Nike who by paying dismal wages to a third world country to sell at TOP Dollar across the Globe on the backs of others efforts.

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

[rudy654-2009]

At $59 a month, It would take a few months to buy a pair of nikes for themselfs. What do Nikes go for these days. $150.00? Posted by Cbscrash07 at 06:26 PM

And don''t think they sell them any cheaper over there, they don''t. They are just as expensive to buy.

[rudy654-2009]

Don''t forget that they are also the beneficiaries of all those tax breaks while they mass produce this krap cheaply to sell to us expensively.

[Syndicate]

At $59 a month, It would take a few months to buy a pair of nikes for themselfs. What do Nikes go for these days. $150.00?

[mgpm-2009]

GOOD. Hope they get the raise they deserve. Nike is one of those crappy companies.

[theantirick]

59 bucks a month !!!!!!!!! amazing
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...

[bookwerm314]

All the "magic savings" Business has made by exporting manufacturing around the world (mostly China of course) WILL come back and bite them in the rear.. why? Well, the US dollar is worth half as much (which means the "cheap labor" cost doubled), AND their is huge cost growths IN china for labor, along with other places.. so for all they did, they just postponed price rise, didn''t remove it.. AND they have destroyed the US economy so fewer folks ahve MONEY to buy their stuff! Duh.

[fstop100]

What does the CEO of Nike make a year, including bonuses and options?

[rushlimpdrug]

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!

[gkc99]

Certainly wouldn''t want to cut into Phil Knight''s billions!

But where can they outsource to from Vietnam? Chad?

The race to the bottom.

Boycott Nike.

[mjvw2]

''''Bout time those kids stood up for their rights!


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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

[yongamerica]

I''m glad to see the workers stand up for better pay. Considering the $58 per month salary these workers are making and how inflated Nike shoe prices are compared to these wages, It seems that the upper management can together afford to loose a million dollars in bonuses to meet the rising economies of third world countries or bring their manufacturing back to the US.

[flreason]

cbsblogger
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.

[cbsblogger]

You can see a loss in quality of products (that were formerly Made in USA) whether it be shoes, clothing, tools, furniture, etc.

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.