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More disturbing is the lack of protection workers have against these chemicals. In many cases, workers have no protection at all. In areas considered to be the highest danger, workers are provided with thin cotton masks and gloves. According to a fact sheet from the University of Utah?s chemical lab, precautions when dealing with Toluene should include a chemical cartridge mask, safety goggles with a face shield, a protective suit, and polyvinyl alcohol gloves. In a report published by Ernst and Young, 77% of the workers in Vietnam?s production department admit to having respiratory problems. The unbearable heat in the factories does little to help the situation. In interviews conducted by the Vietnam Labor Watch, it was discovered that it?s common for workers to faint during their shifts from a combination of heat, exhaustion, and poor nutrition. Several instances have been reported of workers coughing up blood before fainting. Ironically, Nike issued a document entitled ?Please Consider This?? which stated: ?Nike takes full responsibility for working conditions wherever its products are produced??(Vietnam Labor Watch; State of California v. NIKE, Inc.)

One would certainly hope Nike didn?t mean to include the actions of supervisors in its description of working conditions. Women in Nike factories frequently suffer sexual harassment and severe punishments for their mistakes at the hands of their supervisors. One such incident was reported in a Vietnamese newspaper called Nguoi Lao Dong. On August 18, 1996 a supervisor took two women into a storage room. He began to touch one woman and tried to remove her clothes. She escaped him and fled the room. The supervisor then grabbed the other woman, took off her clothes, and began to rape her. He was caught in the act by a security guard who had been summoned by the first woman. The man fled the country immediately. Nike?s CEO told stockholders that the supervisor was trying to wake the sleeping women and must have touched them in the wrong place. The Vietnamese government disagreed and began extradition proceedings against the supervisor. On several occasions after the incident was discovered, the company offered the women envelopes of money to smooth over the situation. One of the women explains her feelings on the attempted bribes, ?But we refused. I answered them, we will not for money sell our dignity or our honor.? (Vietnam Labor Watch).

In 1997 Thuyen Nguyen traveled to Vietnam to view the factories for himself. Upon his return, he was very outspoken about what he witnessed. ?I cannot describe to you these women?s sense of desperation?most of the women I spoke to work ten to twelve hour days six to seven days per week?Forced and excessive overtime is the norm?if workers refuse, they are punished or receive a warning. After three warnings, they?re fired.? He also noted ?Pregnant workers are treated with disrespect and have been, on occasion, unjustly terminated.?(State of California v. NIKE, Inc.)

There seem to be no rules or limitations on the punishments workers can receive, even for minor offenses. On March 8, 1997, International Women?s Day, a supervisor in a Vietnamese factory made 56 women run twice around the 1.2 mile factory because they wore the wrong shoes to work. Twelve of these women went into shock, fainted, and were hospitalized. On a day when most employers in the country give their female employees flowers and gifts, this factory gave twelve women a trip to the emergency room. Another supervisor ordered 45 workers to kneel with their hands in the air for 25 minutes for what he considered to be poor performance. On November 26, 1996 100 workers were forced to stand in the sun for an hour for spilling a tray of fruit. This is a common punishment called ?sun-drying?. For 15 women the punishment for poor sewing was a smack in the head. Two of these workers were taken to the hospital and 970 workers went on strike to protest the unfair treatment. In another instance, an American inspector told a supervisor that the wrong color was being used on the outsoles of shoes. The supervisor later lined up the six employees who made the mistake and hit each one with the outsole. A standard rule in these factories is to limit the restroom privileges of employees. Workers are not allowed to use the restroom more than one time in an eight-hour shift and cannot drink water more than twice (Vietnam Labor Watch).

When the Ernst and Young report uncovered the problems Nike?s factory workers endured, the company announced that it would be looking into the allegations and would clear up any situations it found to be illegal or unethical. CEO Philip Knight did this by hiring Andrew Young, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, to investigate Asian operations. Mr. Young founded GoodWorks International to do this. GoodWorks released a report in June 1997 basically claiming that Nike was innocent of any wrongdoing and that the conditions in the factories were acceptable. However, Andrew Young did not visit all of the factories, therefore his report is incomplete. He failed to address even one single violation mentioned

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