In recent days there have been numerous media reports and speculation regarding my personal philanthropy and relationship with the University of Oregon. As a lifelong Duck and in fairness to the many alums at Nike and around Oregon, I feel obligated to address this personally.
I was shocked on Friday morning, April 14 at 9 a.m. to find out that the University of Oregon had joined the Workers Rights Consortium (WRC). With this move the University inserted itself into the new global economy where I make my living. And inserted itself on the wrong side, fumbling a teachable moment.
Nike did not invent the global economy but has been determined to be a leader and to show its good citizenship. We are very, very serious about providing good factory working conditions and continuously improving the work experience for all 500,000 people who make Nike products. We also have been consistent in calling for one strong external code and one monitoring system for the entire industry that puts us all on a level playing field.
We believe the President's and the Department of Labor's Fair Labor Association (FLA), representing a coalition of human, consumer and labor rights groups, industry and universities, is such a system although it is taking too long to get active.
Regardless of whether either the FLA or WRC get up and running, we are committed to having the best monitoring and remediation process possible, and to be open. Should anyone doubt that, today I have directed our labor practices department to begin a program to publish the results of all PricewaterhouseCoopers factory monitoring visits on our website beginning in May - warts and all. We have nothing to hide.
Because this issue has been so important to students on college campuses such as the University of Oregon, last fall we invited students to become monitors. Tomorrow we will be releasing the student monitors' reports on 32 of our college licensed apparel manufacturers.
Frankly, we are frustrated that factory monitoring is badly misconstrued. For us one of the great hurdles and real handicaps in the dialogue has been the complexity of the issue. For real progress to be made, all key participants have to be at the table. That's why the FLA has taken so long to get going. The WRC is supported by the AFL-CIO and its affiliated apparel workers' union, UNITE. Their main aim, logically and understandably, however misguided, is to bring apparel jobs back to the U.S. Among WRC rules, no company can participate in setting standards, or monitoring. It has an unrealistic living wage provision. And its "gotcha" approach to monitoring doesn't do what good monitoring should - measure conditions and make improvements.
As even our most severe critics acknowledge, Nike, because of the strength of its trademark on campuses, not because of its actions in overseas factories, has been the specific target of criticism. We have been called "evil" by some.
Let's recap some of the things this "evil" company has done over the past several years:
- Increased minimum age requirements for footwear workers to an industry-high 18 years of age
- Increased wages for Indonesian footwear workers by more than 70 percent
- Established community-based micro-loan programs and on-site, after hours continuing education for our footwear factory workers
- Significantly improved indoor air quality in our footwear factories consistent with OSHA guidelines
- Disclosed the U.S. and global locations of the 45 factories that produce collegiate licensed apparel
If you want to begin to understand this issue, ask University of Oregon President Dave Frohnmayer one question: Ask him if he will sign a pledge that all contractors and sub-contractors of the University of Oregon as well as the University itself meet the WRC's "living wage" provision. Not just Nike. All of us. No university, including the University of Oregon, can meet the WRC living wage and other code standards for food service employees, grounds keepers, clerical personnel or teaching assistants.
My history with the University of Oregon goes back a long way. My father graduated from the University in 1934. From the time I was14 years old it was the only college for me. The late Bill Bowerman, my mentor and co-founder of Nike, was a graduate as well as track coach there for 24 years. There is a strong emotional attachment for me with the University. I personally have given $50 million to the University of Oregon - $30 million for academics, and $20 million for athletics.
Nike has a lot of pride and has been my life. It is the source of any dollars I am able to give. To accept the University of Oregon's endorsement of the WRC would be to place my company, our employees, our university-related manufacturers and their employees in unknown hands under undefined monitoring that has no protocols, no credibility, no role for the companies whose businesses are being monitored, and no independence. It would be a sell out of my company, my fellow employees and the progress we have worked so hard to make in our factories both here and abroad. I am simply not able to do that.
Nike will honor its contractual commitment. But for me personally, there will be no further donations of any kind to the University of Oregon. At this time, this is not a situation that can be resolved. The bonds of trust, which allowed me to give at a high level, have been shredded.
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