Nike Says Its Factory Workers Make Nearly Double the Minimum Wage. In Indonesia, Workers Say, “It’s Not True.”
This affects the entire country.
Through boom times and, more recently, slumping sales, Nike Inc. has stuck by a key claim about its overseas suppliers: They pay the average factory worker about twice the local minimum wage.
It’s a claim company co-founder Phil Knight first made in the 1990s, when the company faced accusations of sweatshop conditions in the overseas factories hired to make Nike’s apparel. And it’s one the sneaker giant has reasserted since 2021.
But the experiences of workers in Indonesia, Nike’s second-largest production hub, illustrate how misleading the claim can be for vast portions of its supply chain.
When a reporter for The Oregonian/OregonLive visited the country and interviewed roughly 100 workers from more than 10 factories that supply Nike, none said they made anywhere near twice the minimum wage.
“Bullshit,” a union official said, in English, while sitting on a makeshift couch on the porch of his office near Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. (Like most workers currently employed by Nike suppliers, the official did not wish to be named because of fears of retaliation, including fines and termination.)
One worker from a factory in West Java asked a reporter where on the company’s website Nike makes the wage claim.
“No, no, no,” he said, through a translator. “It’s not true.”
“Nike is not paying double the minimum wage,” said a union official in Central Java, a lower-wage area where Nike’s contract factories have been expanding. “The fact is the opposite. Nike is seeking cheaper workers.”
Worker housing near an Indonesian factory that makes Nike products Matthew Kish/The Oregonian/OregonLive. License plates redacted by ProPublica.
Last year, a ProPublica reporter visited Cambodia and found that only 1% of the 3,720 workers at a former Nike supplier earned at least 1.9 times the minimum wage, based on a factory payroll ledger. Interviews and paystubs for other workers corroborated that earnings are typically closer to the minimum wage than double that amount.
A reporter for The Oregonian/OregonLive subsequently spent seven days in Indonesia, where Nike’s contractors, including its materials suppliers, employ about 280,000 people.
All the workers interviewed said they made around minimum wage, which is as little as $150 a month in some parts of the country.
Sandra Cho, who oversees human rights for Nike, didn’t dispute that some factory workers — including in Indonesia and Cambodia — make less than 1.9 times the minimum wage, describing the figure as a “global average.”
“Some countries will be less than 1.9, some countries will be higher,” she said.
In Vietnam, Nike’s biggest production center, two workers told The Oregonian/OregonLive they made minimum wage — about $204 a month — but two said they made twice as much. That’s in keeping with reports from Nike’s competitor, Puma, which says its biggest factories in Vietnam pay around double the minimum wage.
Nike pushed back when asked whether it’s misleading for its disclosures to highlight the figure of 1.9 times the minimum wage.
“A company trying to mislead would not voluntarily publish wage data, openly acknowledge its journey toward improvement, or subject itself to third-party …
This affects the entire country.
Through boom times and, more recently, slumping sales, Nike Inc. has stuck by a key claim about its overseas suppliers: They pay the average factory worker about twice the local minimum wage.
It’s a claim company co-founder Phil Knight first made in the 1990s, when the company faced accusations of sweatshop conditions in the overseas factories hired to make Nike’s apparel. And it’s one the sneaker giant has reasserted since 2021.
But the experiences of workers in Indonesia, Nike’s second-largest production hub, illustrate how misleading the claim can be for vast portions of its supply chain.
When a reporter for The Oregonian/OregonLive visited the country and interviewed roughly 100 workers from more than 10 factories that supply Nike, none said they made anywhere near twice the minimum wage.
“Bullshit,” a union official said, in English, while sitting on a makeshift couch on the porch of his office near Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. (Like most workers currently employed by Nike suppliers, the official did not wish to be named because of fears of retaliation, including fines and termination.)
One worker from a factory in West Java asked a reporter where on the company’s website Nike makes the wage claim.
“No, no, no,” he said, through a translator. “It’s not true.”
“Nike is not paying double the minimum wage,” said a union official in Central Java, a lower-wage area where Nike’s contract factories have been expanding. “The fact is the opposite. Nike is seeking cheaper workers.”
Worker housing near an Indonesian factory that makes Nike products Matthew Kish/The Oregonian/OregonLive. License plates redacted by ProPublica.
Last year, a ProPublica reporter visited Cambodia and found that only 1% of the 3,720 workers at a former Nike supplier earned at least 1.9 times the minimum wage, based on a factory payroll ledger. Interviews and paystubs for other workers corroborated that earnings are typically closer to the minimum wage than double that amount.
A reporter for The Oregonian/OregonLive subsequently spent seven days in Indonesia, where Nike’s contractors, including its materials suppliers, employ about 280,000 people.
All the workers interviewed said they made around minimum wage, which is as little as $150 a month in some parts of the country.
Sandra Cho, who oversees human rights for Nike, didn’t dispute that some factory workers — including in Indonesia and Cambodia — make less than 1.9 times the minimum wage, describing the figure as a “global average.”
“Some countries will be less than 1.9, some countries will be higher,” she said.
In Vietnam, Nike’s biggest production center, two workers told The Oregonian/OregonLive they made minimum wage — about $204 a month — but two said they made twice as much. That’s in keeping with reports from Nike’s competitor, Puma, which says its biggest factories in Vietnam pay around double the minimum wage.
Nike pushed back when asked whether it’s misleading for its disclosures to highlight the figure of 1.9 times the minimum wage.
“A company trying to mislead would not voluntarily publish wage data, openly acknowledge its journey toward improvement, or subject itself to third-party …
Nike Says Its Factory Workers Make Nearly Double the Minimum Wage. In Indonesia, Workers Say, “It’s Not True.”
This affects the entire country.
Through boom times and, more recently, slumping sales, Nike Inc. has stuck by a key claim about its overseas suppliers: They pay the average factory worker about twice the local minimum wage.
It’s a claim company co-founder Phil Knight first made in the 1990s, when the company faced accusations of sweatshop conditions in the overseas factories hired to make Nike’s apparel. And it’s one the sneaker giant has reasserted since 2021.
But the experiences of workers in Indonesia, Nike’s second-largest production hub, illustrate how misleading the claim can be for vast portions of its supply chain.
When a reporter for The Oregonian/OregonLive visited the country and interviewed roughly 100 workers from more than 10 factories that supply Nike, none said they made anywhere near twice the minimum wage.
“Bullshit,” a union official said, in English, while sitting on a makeshift couch on the porch of his office near Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. (Like most workers currently employed by Nike suppliers, the official did not wish to be named because of fears of retaliation, including fines and termination.)
One worker from a factory in West Java asked a reporter where on the company’s website Nike makes the wage claim.
“No, no, no,” he said, through a translator. “It’s not true.”
“Nike is not paying double the minimum wage,” said a union official in Central Java, a lower-wage area where Nike’s contract factories have been expanding. “The fact is the opposite. Nike is seeking cheaper workers.”
Worker housing near an Indonesian factory that makes Nike products Matthew Kish/The Oregonian/OregonLive. License plates redacted by ProPublica.
Last year, a ProPublica reporter visited Cambodia and found that only 1% of the 3,720 workers at a former Nike supplier earned at least 1.9 times the minimum wage, based on a factory payroll ledger. Interviews and paystubs for other workers corroborated that earnings are typically closer to the minimum wage than double that amount.
A reporter for The Oregonian/OregonLive subsequently spent seven days in Indonesia, where Nike’s contractors, including its materials suppliers, employ about 280,000 people.
All the workers interviewed said they made around minimum wage, which is as little as $150 a month in some parts of the country.
Sandra Cho, who oversees human rights for Nike, didn’t dispute that some factory workers — including in Indonesia and Cambodia — make less than 1.9 times the minimum wage, describing the figure as a “global average.”
“Some countries will be less than 1.9, some countries will be higher,” she said.
In Vietnam, Nike’s biggest production center, two workers told The Oregonian/OregonLive they made minimum wage — about $204 a month — but two said they made twice as much. That’s in keeping with reports from Nike’s competitor, Puma, which says its biggest factories in Vietnam pay around double the minimum wage.
Nike pushed back when asked whether it’s misleading for its disclosures to highlight the figure of 1.9 times the minimum wage.
“A company trying to mislead would not voluntarily publish wage data, openly acknowledge its journey toward improvement, or subject itself to third-party …
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