Lawyers filed a civil suit on Monday charging Nike with lying about sweatshop conditions in Asian factories where its world-famous shoes are pieced together.
The suit, filed in San Francisco superior court, accused Nike of violating Californias consumer laws by wilfully misleading the public about working conditions of the Vietnamese, Chinese and Indonesian labourers producing Nike shoes. We feel that Nike has one of the worst track records, said Patrick Coughlin, one of the lawyers on the suit. The conditions are just horrendous.
The suit alleges that, contrary to statements by Nike, Asian sweatshop workers are regularly subject to physical punishment and sexual abuse. It says Nike factory workers are often exposed to dangerous chemicals, forced to work overtime, sometimes without pay, and often unable to earn a living wage.
Nike has failed to tell Californians the truth about their business practices, said Alan Caplan, another lawyer in the group. They are using deception for profit.
Responding to the suit, Nike said it was committed to the health, safety and wage levels of its workers and sought to make its factories the very best workplaces. The company said the legal action appears to be more of a press release dressed up like a lawsuit that merely recycled old claims that have already been resolved.
Nike has always sought to conduct its business practices in an ethical and commercially responsible manner. This legal action will not deter us from our mission of continuous improvement, the company said.
The suit is the latest attack on Nike for conditions at Asian factories where workers, mostly women between the ages of 18-24, are subcontracted to produce most of its shoes. Nike has repeatedly rejected accusations that it implicitly condones worker maltreatment, and has published both a code of conduct and a separate agreement with Asian subcontractors setting out the company position on wages and working conditions.
