Nike Sweatshops Inc Essay

Ethics refer to what is delimitate as right or reproach in the morality of human beings and friendly issues ar matters which could directly or indirectly affect a person or more members of a golf-club. In this skid study, Nike has been accused of subjecting employees in their farm outed factories everywheresea to naturalise in inhumane conditions for low wages. The chief executive officer and cofounder of Nike lamented that The Nike product has become synonymous with knuckle d sustain wages, forced-overtime and arbitrary abuse.Initially, the blotto purchased dickens app bel-manufacturing facilities in the United States nevertheless eventually had to boot out them d take in due to tremendous prejudice in profits. Today, practically all of Nikes factories argon subcontracted and located in countries much(prenominal) as Ind geniussia, Vietnam, China and Thailand, where the labour be are signifi stinkpottly lesser than those in the United States. The founder of Vietna m Labour Watch, doubting Thomas Nguyen, inspected several of Nikes plants in Vietnam in 1998 and account cases of itime(prenominal)ureer abuse.At one of these factories which he inspected, a supervisor penalize 56 women for wearing inappropriate sour shoes by forcing them to run roughly the factory in the how sun. Twelve proletarians fainted and had to be picturen to the hospital. He also reported that workers were allowed only one bathroom tally and two drinks of water during each octet-hour shift. The estimable and favorable issues in this case are that Nike unethically organizes advantage of these labour markets because it earmarks them with a higher profit.Nike should also be held liable for(p) for what happens in factories they do non own to a certain degree because low- salute manufacturing has al bureaus been their schema in the market. Although they do non directly own these factories, they should take the initiative to be socially responsible and moni tor the tokenish workingsss conditions as it would reflect on the companionships image. A living wage is delimitate by the wage which allows the earner to pass on basic needs such as food, shelter and former(a) necessities of life.The labour cost of manufacturing a shoe is $2. 43 temporary hookup the consumer remunerates $65 for it. Nike could still afford to pay its workers a living wage without ski tow its prices to the consumers. Realistically, the wage guideline of the FLA bets more possible as it is based on a fixed statistic of minimum wage as required by law or the average industry wage, whichever is higher. That being said, the minimum wages of some developing countries are too low and would not provide the benefits of a normal living for the employees.Therefore, the guidelines of the WRC pay heedm more appropriate to me and it would be bulky to take into account the wages of a normal-income employee and follow that guideline. It is unethical for Nike to pay en dorses millions of dollars man its factory employees receive a hardly a(prenominal) dollars a day. Sure, it is important for them to market their products and apply celebrities and spokespeople would cost tons of money unless there are many former(a) ways for them to market their products without the need to bring the conditions of employees in third world countries. all told other major gymnastic shoe manufacturer also contract with abroad manufacturers albeit to various degrees. Athletic shoe unattackable New Balance Inc. is somewhat of an anomalousness as it continues to operate five factories in the United States. However, New Balance has veritable a different marketing strategy in comparison to Nike. They do not use professional athletes to market their products. Instead, they pack to invest in product question and development. New Balance also exploits nearly of their shoes in the United States, pay workers over 30 times what Nike workers start in Vietnam, yet they still advert a profit.To achieve corporate social responsibility, Nike should seriously consider the impact of their come withs actions on society. It is an obligation to take actions that protect and improve the welfare of society as a whole, along with their own interests. They should be responsible for the jural, social and openhearted aspects of its subcontracted factories. They are not paying their employees the legal minimum wage, caring about the working conditions and welfare of these employees and that not victorious into consideration the well-being of others.Ten long time ago, the company had been subjected to negative press, lawsuits, and demonstrations on college campuses alleging that the tights overseas contractors subject employees to work in inhumane conditions for low wages. With the entering of the fair labour association and worker rights consortium, Nike is slowly trying to improve the working conditions on subcontracted factories and hopefully in 10 years, they would be able to re-establish themselves as a morally acceptable company. Nike could pass water sight the ethical and social guidelines of how an nerve should be managed.They should not direct hired minors under 16 to work. And instead of buy two shoe-manufacturing facilities in the United States, Nike could have just purchased one plant and see how their operations went before thinking about purchasing another plant. When the firm finally saw success in 1980, eight years after the company was founded, and became the largest athletic shoe company in the world, they could have finally purchased the shoe-manufacturing plants in the United States and it would plausibly have been a success, without having the need to subcontract factories and cutting the cost of labour just to have a bigger profit.This in turn would not have caused so much negative press that the company has had to deal with so far. For future references, Nike should learn from their past mistakes and treat the subcontracted employees morally, pay them a better wage and improve their working conditions. They should also better manage their subcontracts and not just use them as proxies for Nike to standoffishness themselves from victorious any responsibility for the way their factory workers are treated. The subcontractors are considered stakeholders in the organisation and Nike, as the manager, should make it their link as to what is happening in these factories. rubber press will take a long time to subside and what Nike can do from now is to acknowledge its past errors and become more socially responsible for the sake of their future. Colleges and universities have direct ties to the many shoe and apparel companies that contract with overseas manufacturers. Most universities receive money from athletic shoe and apparel corporations in overtake for outfitting the universitys sports teams with the firms products. What motivates them is the bad image they could be pictur e when they wear the firms apparel.They could be seen as promoting the cause for sweatshops. The United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) organisation was formed in 1998 and led by former UNITE summer interns. The USAS ordered a large number of campus demonstrations which hold out against the universitys contract with Nike due to the firms alleged sweatshop abuses. More than c students demanded that the university not renew its contract with Nike and rallied removed the office of the universitys chancellor. More than 50 other universities staged similar protests and sit-ins.The priming coat why their activism is not widespread is because it is hard to get a viewpoint from them that does not reflect that of UNITE. It was claimed that Nike owes $2. 2 million in severance pay to workers in Honduras when two Nike factories were closed. When hounded over their exploitation of workers, Nike released a tilt that they are deeply concerned, but cannot assume any responsibility for the actions of their subcontractors. In my opinion, Nike should pay the severance owed.Although they do not own the factories, they are still abstruse with the overall management and well-being of the workers. At the end of the day, the subcontractors are under the handicraft of Nike and should be responsible for the employees. Despite its polemical record on the issue of sweatshops and supervise labour practices abroad, Nike has been the recipient of a figure of corporate social responsibility recognitions over the past several years. Many of these awards are for issues other than their labour practices abroad.They have been named as one of the 100 Best bodied Citizens for 2010 for Corporate Responsibility magazine and one of 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World in 2009. Nike has appeared to be taking actions for mishandling the sweatshop issue as well as they could have and for not adequately supervise its subcontractors in overseas operations until the media and oth er organisations revealed the presence of sweatshops. They seem to have realised their mistake of not being socially responsible and are trying to make amends for their wrongdoings.