"Nike: from sweatshops to leadership in Employment Practices"

[Name of the Professor]

"Nike: from sweatshops to leadership in Employment Practices"

Introduction

Nike is blamed for deploying sweatshops; widely referred to as hazardous work environment for workers. Accusations in the form of Nike's factories exposing workers to extreme temperatures, unfavorable materials and adverse treatment from employers were levied. Workers were made to work at very low wages and were made to work for long hours. This led to Nike's image getting tarnished worldwide and Nike gaining criticism from all quarters (Team Sweat, 2008).

We will discuss how Nike responded and how this catastrophe could have been avoided if proper ethics, code of standards and proper monitoring and auditing could have avoided these issues.

Discussion

Sweatshop's Response

Nike's response to the criticisms levied on it, came in the form of strict monitoring of the working conditions that existed in the factories where Nike's product were being made. With the sweatshop issue gaining immense highlight throughout the world, Nike implemented its code of conduct for the factories in which its products were made.

The code has been referred widely as SHAPE, which comprises of Safety, Health, Attitude, People and Environment. For the implementation of this code, Nike started spending $10 million per year. The emphasis was laid on ensuring air quality, making adherence to fire safety, setting limits for the overtime and setting a minimum wage rate for the employees. All these measures were taken to ensure that the standard of working conditions improved greatly.

In the year 1998, Nike came up with an alternative for petroleum based solvents, while replacing it with water based solvents (Wilsey and Lichtig, 2012). This is comparatively less risky as compared to the petroleum based solvents. In 1999, independent sources gave views that Nike has come up with less harmful chemicals in the production of its products, came up with better exhaust ventilation system and gave trainings on occupational health and safety to the factory workers.

Nike is now continually making sure that the standards of working conditions are more up to the mark. For this Nike has hired 97 people who will be carrying out inspections in factories and making sure that the standard of working conditions there is being good. Nike further gave the right to Fair Labor Association to randomly inspect any of its factories and monitor its working conditions, giving signs that things had improved greatly. This has created more confidence amongst people related to the measures that Nike have taken to address the issues being faced by the factory workers.

For the purpose of making better working conditions, Nike has setup an NGO known as Global Alliance for workers and communities, which has been associated and linked with the international youth foundation. The main purpose of this NGO is to make the public aware related to the initiatives and response being made by Nike to improve its image as a responsible employer.

In the years 2002 till 2004, Nike went on to conduct audit for its factories by nearly 600 times, ...