The event was sponsored by United Students Against Sweatshops, a federation of 175 chapters on U.S. campuses. The protest was called in light of recent findings that PWC had violated the rights of, and allowed Nike to illegally fire, workers at their Korean owned Kukdong International factory in Mexico. MIT professor Dara O Rourke found three fundamental flaws in PWC s monitoring techniques. PWC routinely fails to protect the confidentiality of the workers it interviews.
Workers are therefore unwilling to voice complaints.
PWC does not ask workers about whether they are free to organize independent unions the internationally recognized right of freedom of association. PWC does not ask workers whether they are paid a living wage enough to cover their basic needs. These findings are supported by the findings of Nike-sponsored students who inspected PricewaterhouseCoopers monitors last spring. Protesters called for colleges and universities that sell Nike products to end their support. Wednesday s protest was a follow-up to a USAS protest in October, also based on the findings of O Rourke.