TELL THE SPORTSWEAR INDUSTRY TO PAY FAIR!
Around the world the people who make
sportswear for big brand names in the industry - mainly women - are
paid wages so low that they can't cover their basic needs. They have
trouble paying for housing, food, and health care for themselves and
their kids.
Why should these people be subsidising billion dollar profits
and millionaire bosses at companies such as adidas, Asics, New Balance,
Nike, and Puma?
Why are sportswear companies spending millions on Olympic
sponsorship deals when the workers who actually stitch their garments
and glue their sports shoes are living in poverty?
For years key sportswear brands have argued that they can't
raise wages singlehandedly. Play Fair 2008 believes that collectively
they can - these companies control the sportswear and sports shoe
markets. We think you'll agree - it's time that these companies stopped
making excuses and started acting like real market leaders.
Take
action now! >>
BIG PROFITS FOR COMPANIES
|
2007 pre-tax profits |
Increase in profits 2004-7 |
Nike |
$2.2 billion |
52% |
Adidas |
$1.1 billion |
68% |
Puma |
$511 million |
14% |
Yue Yuen |
$386 million |
29% |
ASICS |
$203 million |
215% |
AND CEOS…
-
Herbert Heiner, CEO of adidas, was paid a salary of 2.8
million euros in 2007.
-
Nike Chief Executive Mark Parker earned for 2006 a salary
of $1.14 million, received a bonus of $1.29 million, and received more
than $2 million in restricted stock awards and other compensation.
BUT POVERTY WAGES FOR WORKERS
Click on image to enlarge
WORKER'S REALITY:
- China:
A pair of adidas running shoes in Shenzhen can cost
between US$86-171 -- almost a month's income for the worker who made
them -- usually young migrant women who live 12 to a dorm room.
- India:
Piece rates have remained stagnant for the last five
years, despite local inflation rates last year estimated at between
6.7% and 10%. One home-based soccer ball stitcher told Play Fair: "We
have no savings so we have nothing left during emergencies…
Once I even rented my cooking gas cylinder to arrange some money for a
health emergency suffered by my wife. The situation is similar for all
of us. One of my friends even sold his blood to get some extra money to
meet an emergency."
- Pakistan:
The piece rate these workers receive hasn't changed in
six years even though the consumer price index rose by 40% over that
period.
- Cambodia:
With the wages that a sportswear worker is paid in
Cambodia, she can only pay for her own meals and a very small room
shared with other workers if she works an enormous amount of overtime.
Without working extra hours she also cannot afford clothes or medical
care.
- Vietnam:
With this level of income a worker cannot even cover their daily
expenses. In 2007 there was a 9.5% inflation rate on basic goods.
- Bangladesh:
At the time, unions estimated that a living wage was nearly triple the
minimum. The current minimum wage does not even provide enough to pay
for one person to have three meals a day.
PLAY FAIR DEMAND TO SPORTSWEAR INDUSTRY: PAY FAIR!
Play Fair 2008 believes this practice has got to come to an
end. Sportswear workers should be paid a living wage; one that allows
them to live in dignity. If you agree, please send a message to the
companies who are leaders in the sector. Your message will go not just
to the brand name companies but also the manufacturing giant Yue Yuen,
who supplies companies like adidas, Asics, New Balance and Puma, and
also has a role to play in ensuring that workers are paid a living
wage. So far none of these companies has committed to the principle of
paying their workers a living wage.
Play Fair recognizes that more than a decade after sportswear
industry companies began to address problems in the sector, some
progress has been made on some issues, however there is no disputing
that workers wages in real terms have not improved. Industry's approach
to fixing wages has been to "leave it to the market" but it's clear
that in reality this has meant no solution at all. Sure market forces
are a factor, but the prices set by sportswear company buyers shape
that market.
Play Fair's newly-released research report
"Clearing the Hurdles: Steps to Improving Working Conditions in the
Global Sportswear Industry", provides new evidence of the ongoing
problem of low wages in the sportswear sector [http://www.playfair2008.org/docs/Clearing_the_Hurdles.pdf].
The report offers concrete suggestions for addressing this and other
problems and provides clear targets that companies should meet if
they're serious about putting an end to the scandalous conditions that
their supply chain workers are forced to live and work in. If
sportswear companies can set specific, measurable targets for the
number of pieces worker are expected to complete each day, or for sales
and other financial goals, why can't they set targets for worker rights?
SEND A MESSAGE TO SPORTSWEAR INDUSTRY LEADERS
Play Fair believes that those companies who lead the industry
in terms of profit need to be better leaders when it comes to treating
workers in their supply chains decently - therefore we are asking you
to send a message to the following six companies to let them know that
you agree!
You can use this form to mail the following letter
directly to:
- Hannah Jones, vice president, corporate responsibility, Nike
e-mail: Hannah.jones@nike.com
- Frank Henke global director, social and environmental,
adidas
e-mail: Frank.Henke@adidas.de
- Motoi Oyama, president , ASICS
e-mail: csr-ci-bl@asics.co.jp
- John Larsen, New Balance
e-mail: john.larsen@newbalance.com
- Reiner Hengstmann, director of corporate social
responsibility, Puma
e-mail: reiner.hengstmann@puma.com
- Cc: Johnson Tong, Pou Chen/Yue Yuen
e-mail: Johnson.Tong@pcn.pouchen.com.tw
Dear Industry Leaders,
Can you imagine working 12-13 hours a day, seven days a week,
and not even being paid the minimum wage? Can you imagine living on the
same premises as where you work? Can you imagine having to sleep two to
a bed and 15 in the same room? Given the level of compensation you
received last year this surely isn't your reality, but it is for many
of the workers in your company's supply chains.
According to a new report from Play Fair 2008, wages in the
global sportswear industry are poverty wages, which is shocking given
the high level of profit being enjoyed by the companies, like yours,
who are major players in this sector. I find this unacceptable and urge
you to take concrete action to see that workers are paid a living wage.
I understand that Play Fair's report Clearing the Hurdles makes
specific suggestions on how to achieve progress on the wage problem,
therefore I challenge you to make a commitment to meet the targets they
have set.
I realize that companies like yours might not own the
factories where their goods are produced, but your purchasing
practices, and particularly the prices you pay to suppliers, can play a
major role in determining the wages sportswear workers earn. I
understand that brands and retailers can't simply increase prices paid
without some mechanism to ensure that increased margins go to worker
wages. I also realize that factory owners need assurances that brands
won't shift production elsewhere if labor costs go up.
Because Yue Yuen produces for so many major brands, and
because it is a powerful player in the industry in its own right, their
manufacturing network is a good place for the sportswear industry to
begin to collaborate on seeking solutions to workers' concerns over
wages and working conditions. I am copying this message to them as
well.
I know change won't happen overnight, but Play Fair has
outlined a number of steps that you as industry leaders can take now to
work toward a goal of a genuinely better reality for the workers who
earn so little but whose output created your profits.
To earn my respect you need to pay them a living wage.
Sincerely,
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