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For many years, Nike, Inc. has been accused of using sweatshops to produce footwear and apparel. Nike has denied the claims many times, suggesting the company has no control over sub-contracted factories. ==Allegations== Nike has been accused of using sweatshops since the early 1970s, when it produced goods in South Korea, People's Republic of China and Taiwan. As their economies developed, workers became more productive, wages rose, and many workers moved on to higher paying jobs. Labor unions also gained more influence. Nike found cheaper labor in People's Republic of China, and Vietnam, which prohibited labor unions. When workers demanded additional rights and benefits in these countries, the Nike factories closed and moved to a different location that would enable them to continue operating at a low cost. Throughout the 1990s, Nike was heavily criticized for selling goods produced in sweatshops. They originally denied claims against them. However in 2001, Nike director Todd McKean stated in an interview that the "initial attitude was, 'Hey, we don't own the factories. We don't control what goes on there.' Quite frankly, that was a sort of irresponsible way to approach this. We had people there every day looking at quality. Clearly, we had leverage and responsibility with certain parts of the business, so why not others?" In 2005, protesters at over 40 universities demanded that their institutions endorse companies who use "sweat-free" labor, unlike Nike. Many anti-sweatshop groups are student-led, such as the United Students Against Sweatshops. At Brown University, Nike went so far as to pull out from a contract with the women’s ice-hockey team because of efforts by a student activist group that wanted a code of conduct put in place by the company. This code stated that Nike should have a system to monitor working conditions in the factories where collegiate athletic gear is made. Team Sweat is one of the largest groups that specifically tracks and protests against Nike. Team Sweat is “an international coalition of consumers, investors, and workers committed to ending the injustices in Nike’s sweatshops around the world" founded in 2000 by Jim Keady. Keady researched Nike’s labor practices while attending graduate school at St. John's University in New York. Keady doubled as a soccer coach at St. John’s University, and while he was conducting his research about Nike, the school signed a $3.5 million deal with Nike, forcing all athletes and coaches to endorse Nike. Keady publicly refused to support Nike and was forced to resign his position as soccer coach in 1998. Since resigning, Keady has done original research into the conditions in Nike’s Sweatshops. He travelled to Indonesia and for a month lived among the Nike factory workers, surviving on $1.25 per day like they do.〔http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5uYCWVfuPQ〕 The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) is made up of students, labor union members, and other workers’ rights groups. The Consortium holds conferences to introduce issues relating to employees around the world and discuss possible solutions. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nike sweatshops」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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