Roll Back the Sweat
I'm not sure how to digest these two Nike stories:
Does Nike really think that a strategic alliance with Wal-Mart, the world's most aggressive corporate supporter of extremely-low cost (read: no accountability, high risk, negligent) goods is going to clean up its admitted 50% sweatshop abuse rates?
This diptych of news stories are more calculated than they appear to be. Both Nike and Wal-Mart seek to do some image-maintanence, while both can surreptitiously avoid concrete improvements. At least, this is my estimation. I simply find it hard to believe that Nike is going to increaase worker benefits in its factories for a low-cost mass-market shoe in the least accountable, most encouraging climate of commerce for this kind of labor.
As Debora Spar, author of a study on Nike, says:
Does Nike really think that a strategic alliance with Wal-Mart, the world's most aggressive corporate supporter of extremely-low cost (read: no accountability, high risk, negligent) goods is going to clean up its admitted 50% sweatshop abuse rates?
This diptych of news stories are more calculated than they appear to be. Both Nike and Wal-Mart seek to do some image-maintanence, while both can surreptitiously avoid concrete improvements. At least, this is my estimation. I simply find it hard to believe that Nike is going to increaase worker benefits in its factories for a low-cost mass-market shoe in the least accountable, most encouraging climate of commerce for this kind of labor.
As Debora Spar, author of a study on Nike, says:
"[It] shows the company has turned a corner, although I am not sure that I would describe it as a very sharp corner."
posted by General Stan at 4:07 PM
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