Nike spokeswoman Amanda Tucker says since 1998 the company has earned the respect of human rights activists, policy makers and academics who evaluate the practices of global companies. We've probably been the most targetted, the most visible brand in this area. But I also believe we're leading the way in pioneering initiatives in the area of corporate responsibility. She says Nike's minimum age requirements now meet and sometimes exceed international labor standards. And the company has started using safer water based solvents to glue soles onto its shoes.
Tucker does admit, however, that despite many successes there's still work to be done.
But Leila Dalazar, a corporate accountability organizer for San Francisco-based Global Exchange , says that's a gross understatement. Salazar says yes, when Nike found chemical solvent fumes 177 times the legal limit in some of its Vietnamese factories, it installed ventilators and changed to water-based solvents. But, she says, the company still has a ways to go. But in terms of wages and collective bargaining, which continue to be the workers major concerns, there hasn't been significant changes on that. To illustrate her point, Salazar points to the Kuk Dong factory in a small Mexican village of Atlixco.