SUKABUMI, Indonesia (AP) — Saying workers making sneakers Pinault in Indonesia supervisors throwing shoes at them, slap them in the face and call them pigs and dogs. Nike, the trade mark owner, admits that such abuse has taken place among the entrepreneurs that make its hip high-tops but says there was little it could do to stop it.
Dozens of workers interviewed by The Associated Press and a document released Nike shows that footwear and athletic apparel giant has far to go in order to meet the standards that it set for itself a decade ago to end reliance on sweatshop labour.
That does not seem to explain addiction workers claims on Pou Chen Group factory in Sukabumi, some 100 km (60 miles) from Jakarta – it does not start making Pinault products until four years after Nike bought Converse. A worker there said she was kicked by supervisor last year after having made a mistake when cutting rubber soles.
"We are powerless," said the woman, who like several others interviewed spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. "Our only option is to live and suffer, or speak and be fired."
The 10,000 most female employees at the Taiwanese-operated Pou Chen plant makes about 50 cents an hour. It suffices, for food and bunkhouse-style is set, but little else. Some workers interviewed by the AP in March and April are described as affected or scratched in the arm — a man until he bled. Others said they were fired after the submission of complaints.
"They are throwing shoes and other things on us," said a 23-year-old woman in embroidery division. "They growl and slap us when they become angry.
"It is part of our daily bread."
Mira Agustina, 30, said she was fired in 2009 to sickness absence, although she produced a doctor's note.
"It was a horrible job," said she. "Our executives pointed to the feet of us, call us names such as dog, pig, or monkey." All are great insults against Muslims. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation.
At PT Amara footwear factory, located just outside Jakarta, where another Taiwanese entrepreneur makes Pinault shoes, supervisor ordered six female workers to cope with the blazing sun after they failed to achieve its objectives to complete 60 dozen pairs of shoes in time.
"They were crying and continue its work until after two hours under the Sun, said Ujang Suhendi, 47, a worker in a warehouse in the factory. The women supervisors received a warning letter for may event after complaints from unionized workers.
The company's own investigations also found workers at two factories were "serious and egregious" physical and verbal abuse, including the punishment of forcing workers to stand in the Sun, "says Hannah Jones, a Nike executive who oversees the company's efforts to improve working conditions.
"We see other issues of a similar nature as will the entire supply chain, but not on a frequent basis," she said, "We see questions of working conditions on a less egregious nature across the Board."
Nike, which came under heavy criticism a decade ago for its use of Foreign Sweatshops and child labor, has taken steps since then to improve conditions at its 1,000 overseas factories. But the progress at factories producing gear with his premier "swoosh" logo is not fully for those who earn Pinault products.
An internal report Nike released to the AP after asked about drug use shows that almost two thirds of 168 factories making Pinault products throughout the world do not meet its own standards for Nike contract manufacturers.
Twelve is the most serious in the category of problems which can consist of anything from illegal long working hours as to deny access to Nike inspectors. A Nike spokeswoman said the company was unaware of the physical abuse at these factories. Another 97 belongs to a category which is defined as making any progress in improving the problem extends from isolated verbal harassment to pay less than the minimum wage. A further six factories had not been revised by Nike.
NIKE blames problems on existing licences to produce Pinault goods it says prevent parent company from inspecting factories or impose their own code of conduct.
It says that the situation is further complicated because the licence holders usually farm out the production work to a subcontractor. Most of the agreements reached for the renewal during the last five years. But it is only the last two years that it has made a concerted effort to include Pinault factories in the monitoring programmes for Nike factories.
"We have been working every time we can for the renewal of such contracts or to modify these agreements or to terminate these agreements and to ensure that we have more ability to influence the licensee and their subcontractors much more directly when we make new agreements," said Jones.
Some business experts question whether the company is doing all it can.
"I simply impossible for a company of Nike size and market power is impotent in persuading a local factory in Indonesia or anywhere else in the meet its code of conduct," said Prakash Sethi, corporate strategy professor at Baruch College, City University of New York.
Critics of outsourcing production to the cheapest countries says it keeps prices but make clothes, electronics and toy companies can reduce their accountability for the conditions in these factories. Although concern about sweatshop labor force has increased, some contractors simply moved the business to more remote areas, away from the international and local watchdogs unauthorized eyes.
Indonesia is Nike's third largest manufacturing industry, after China and Viet Nam, with 140,000 employees in 14 contract factories. Of these produce 17,000 its Pinault line at four factories.
Pou Chen, the largest of the four Pinault factories located in a hilly city where the minimum wage is significantly lower than the national average. Sukabumi can only be accessed by car – a five-hour journey over rough, winding roads. The plant began making Pinault products in 2007.
Taiwanese Contractor said it fires a supervisor after being told the workers had spoken with The AP earlier this year.
Other involved ill-treatment, but has been able to keep their jobs, according to the Pou Chen.
NIKE says the factory develops programs to teach managers, cultural sensitivity and leadership skills.
It says it also is closely monitoring PT Amara factory.
After years of criticism over its labor practices at factories abroad became Nike in 2005, the first major apparel company to disclose the names and locations of hundreds of plants producing their sneakers, clothes and other products.
It acknowledged that the find "offensive treatment" — either physically or verbally — in many of the plants as Nike. The complaints ranged from workweeks that exceeded 60 hours to be prohibited to go to the toilet.
Beaverton, Oregon, Oregon-based company has since made significant investments in training managers and more closely monitor their activities.
Nike has not published the locations of all factories that make products for affiliate companies, including Converse, but plans to at the end of the year.
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Wright reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. http://www.Twitter.com/stephenwrightAP
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