Nike Should Be Allowed In Response To Child Labor

Nike is one of the top sports clothing industry in the world. However, for years there are fresh allegation for Nike, which dogged by sweatshops and child labour (Daily Mail Reporter, 2011). On the 13 July 2011, Nike has revealed several cases of worker abused at factory.

As such, it applied cultural relativism to justify the use of child labor, unsafe labor practices, and near slave labor in its factories. Since then, Nike has been a driving force to ensure fair labor practices across the apparel industry. In 1999, Nike was a key contributor to the establishment of the Fair Labor Association, an organization that is “…dedicated to protecting workers’ rights around the world” (Fair Labor Association, 2016). Today, Nike continues efforts to ensure that contract factories comply with its Code of Conduct to improve labor standards in overseas factories (Nike, 2016). Because of Nike’s efforts to expand and enforce social responsibility at its factories and given the lessons learned from its sordid past, it is unlikely that Nike would resort to any of the straw men fallacies. However, given the pressure by investors to expect solid returns, one hopes the company continues its altruistic social responsibility efforts while veering away from the Friedman Doctrine and its assertion that “… the only social responsibility of business is to increase profits” (Hill, 2011).

Like other large corporations, Nike looked to expand their operations outside North America. Many companies do this because of the law and wage demands of the United States making overseas operations very appealing. Employment laws are scarce and labor is cheap in most third world countries and can be easily become targeted by giant corporations such as Nike.

Nike is a household name when it comes to sports apparel and equipment. It has worked hard to burnish its image, especially by garnering endorsements from big names in the sports world,such as Michael Jordan. But in 1996 its silver image began to tarnish. It knew it was in trouble when an article on child labour in Pakistan appeared in Life magazine with a picture of a 12-year-old boy sewing a Nike soccer ball in a factory, and activists started showing up in front of Nike outlets holding posters with the boy 's picture on it. Although child labour is illegal in Pakistan, the law is not enforced and child labour is widespread. The factory in question was not run by Nike, but by a subcontractor or supplier.

As a company, Nike is extremely profitable; it is the biggest shoe company and has become the fourth biggest industry leader. Nike can easily afford to increase wages of people that do labor work for the company without even the slightest loss but unfortunately chooses not to. According to the SEC, “In 2007, Nike’s advertising budget was $678 million. Realistically, Nike could pay all its individual workers enough to feed and clothe themselves and their families if it would just devote 1% of its advertising budget to workers' salaries each year!” (A background on…) In Nike’s Code of conduct, they state that in the area of human rights and in the communities in which they do their business, they want to do everything required of them as well as what is generally expected of a leader and thus by magnifying on the wrongs an industry leader commits, changes in the entire industry is expected.

Sources state ex-employees and present day employees have filed reports of Nike’s harsh and unjust working conditions as far back as the 1990’s. Although Nike denied it at times, there was solid proof that children under the age of 16 were also working in these conditions, as most adults would. These sweatshops

The year to year increase in consumer demand for cheaper products have led major corporations to outsource labor in foreign countries with little to no laws preventing child labor and the building of sweatshops. Many parents here in America would be disgusted by the idea of forcing their young children to work long hard hours in factory but the truth is because of our desire for cheap products, “As many as a million children ranging in age from 5 to 15 work as debt-bonded laborers in the loom sheds of India, Nepal and Pakistan, according to the U.S. Department of Labor and the ILO” (Razzi 46). Many of the products we enjoy today such as soccer balls are made by child labor, “Eighty percent of the soccer balls sold in the U.S. are produced in a small region of eastern Pakistan, where about 20% of the work force is between 5 and 14 years old, according to the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF)” (Razzi 46). Child labor does not just exist in third world countries, “The International Labour Organization (ILO), an agency of the United Nations that is based in Geneva, estimates that about 13% of the world's children between the ages of 10 and 14 work, along with untold numbers of younger children” (Razzi 46). Even more surprising is the that sweatshops also exists here in America, “More than a quarter of a million people work in U.S. sweatshops, according to the Labor Department” (Razzi

The labor practices issues has became the biggest challenges for Nike. The unethical act of Nike caused a huge loses and experiencing dramatically dropped in net profit. In early 1998, the founder of Nike Phil Knigh have been announced that the Nike will taking actions to the sweatshops issues by raising the minimum age of worker to avoid the problem of child labor. Moreover, Nike will be strengthen the management over the sweatshops issues as well.

On an everyday premise, their representatives work extended periods under horrendous conditions for a little aggregate of cash (Hase, 2013). Nike has without any help brought down the human rights norms for the sole motivation behind amplifying benefits. Also, Nike items have turned out to be synonymous with slave compensation, constrained additional time, and subjective mishandle (Wilsey, & Lichtig,2012). Other than the uncalled for wages, Nike always manhandles their laborers in unbelievable ways.

My colleagues and I agree that in certain circumstances that freedom of expression could be limited, for example it is illegal for people to say “bomb” in an airport or “fire” in a crowded movie theater. An example, in the case of Nike v. Kasky a confidential audit by Ernst & Young about Nike’s labor practices in southeast Asia. The audit stated that “workers in the Nike factory were exposed to harmful and toxic chemicals without protection, subjected to physical, verbal, sexual abuse, forced to work excess amount of overtime without proper pay, and suffered from poor ventilation, and drinking water.” In this case I believe that the worker has the right to say what the company was doing , but i feel like disclosing information about the your

You might think that the clothes, the electronics, everything you could possibly need is being made by adults, but I tell you they are not! Nike is now having a boycott against them, because most of their products are manufactured by children. In this argumentative essay I will be explaining to you my opinion and views on what I think about Nike, and if I think that Nike using child labor is right. I think that Nike is a great company, and do I think that them using child labor is acceptable? Yes I do, I think that Nike using child labor is acceptable because, what the children are making satisfies our needs, they get paid, and I am pretty sure that most of the children like their jobs.

A sweatshop is an industry where there are manual workers that are forced to work for very low pay. Long hours, very short breaks if any at all, and under poverty-stricken conditions. The conditions that a sweatshop workers faces are unfair pay, unreasonable hours, child labor, and no health benefits. In some counties children from the age of 5 to 14 are forced to work in sweatshops. Sweatshops are similar to slavery because children are forced to work where there is almost non-existent of paid and the mentally and physically abuse.Nike is one of the corporation that are involved in sweatshops by bad labor practices. It was report that Nike corporation was documented for their low wages and very poor working conditions in Indonesia . Workers

Frenkel (2001) asserted that the while there is a Nike’s code of conduct, China’s sports factories manufacturing products for Nike were found to violate it. Furthermore, these factories were violating the apparel industry partnership code of conduct, and the labor law made by the government of China. This is another sign of government’s power getting weaker. In addition, it is known that trade unions are never heard of and any sign of opposition is going to be tremendously punished. All of these means workers have no way to voice out the unfairness they received.

No one can truly understand how poor the quality of life for factory workers really is unless you live through it. A former Nike factory worker came out and shared her stories of the abuse she went through while working. Noi Supalai spoke before a crowd at an event hosted by Penn State chapter of the United States Against Sweatshops. This is an organization which is running a campaign called “Just Do The Right Thing” for workers’ rights. She said that there were harsh time constraints set for the products to be produced. When they did not meet the deadline, Nike put a fine on the factory restricting workers to receive their pay. Employees did not get paid for two months until they protested. (“Former Nike factory worker shares story of abusive working conditions” Lee) There have been others reports just like this one from The Daily Collegian such as one from DailyMail.com. Nike’s converse shoe factory supervisors have been revealed to be physically and mentally abusing workers. “Supervisors frequently throw shoes at them, slap them in the face, kick them and call them dogs and pigs.” (“Nike workers kicked, slapped and verbally abused at factories making converse” Daily Mail Reporter). Nike claims there is little they can do to stop such problems. Workers get kicked, and feel powerless, “our only choice is to stay and suffer, or speak out and be fired” says a woman from a plant in Sukabumi. The behind the scenes treatment is unimaginably brutal. It is so hard to think of the workers having things thrown at them, being kicked, scratched, slapped, growled at, forced to stand in the sun, disrespecting religions, and many many more abusive actions done to them as we make our purchases. Why would Lebron James sponsor such a company? Why would anyone sit back and get paid more than anyone could ever need for doing nothing when there are others out there getting paid barely anything for working their tails

Child labour in Pakistan may be common and arguably a necessary evil but it certainly does not give Nike the rights to break its own standards, practice child labour, and advertently break the law.