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Home » Recent News » Former Nike Worker Calls on Students to Cover Their Logos


Former Nike Worker Calls on Students to Cover Their Logos

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In her nationwide United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) tour Cambodian Alliance of Trade Unions (CATU) President Sophorn Yang, a former Nike garment worker, describes the life of an overseas sweatshop worker. She describes how they would pile into trucks traveling long distances and leaving their families behind to work 10 to 14 hours a day for about $150 per month. Employees could be reprimanded for sitting down, yawning, or using the restroom. Despite factory temperatures in excess of 90 degrees they were discouraged from drinking water to lessen the frequency of bathroom breaks. The workers are intimidated from registering with unions. Yang says she was most shocked by the price tag of one Nike sneaker—almost equal to one month’s salary.

The USAS tour is part of a series of student protests organized against Nike for refusing to allow its factories to be inspected by the independent labor rights monitoring organization Workers Rights Consortium (WRC), affiliated with more than 180 colleges and universities. The social media campaign #NikeCoverUpChallege encourages people to cover up their Nike logos just as the corporation has been covering up its mistreatment of workers.







NEWS