FOR THE PRESS

For immediate release: December 20, 2006

Nike Repudiates AmCham Position on Chinese Law Law Reform

Nike has repudiated efforts by the American Chamber of Commerce in China to derail China’s proposed new labour legislation.

The proposed changes are aimed at addressing some of the most glaring abuses of worker rights in China. But industry associations such as the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai
are fiercely opposing the proposed changes, insisting that such improvements will adversely impact the country’s economy. 

In April 2006, a group claiming to represent the American Chamber of Commerce (now disavowed by AmCham) even burst into a meeting of labour law reformers held in Shanghai, threatening to withdraw from China if the bill passed. They complained that the proposals meant going back 20 years instead of going forward.

Neil Kearney, General Secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF) has asked apparel and footwear corporations to distance themselves from the position of their industry associations.

“Nike has a long history of actively supporting the Chinese government’s efforts to strengthen labor laws and protections of workers’ rights”, said Nike Vice President Hannah Jones in her response. “We have worked closely with our contract factories to develop programs and protocols to address the issues. Improving factory conditions and strengthening the legal protections for workers in our factory supply chain is central to our corporate responsibility efforts and core to our business values”.

“As one of the 7,000 members of the American Chamber of Commerce in China we had yet definitely to state a position either internally or externally to AmCham on the draft labor law currently under review”, adds Hannah Jones in her letter.  “Our initial reaction was to work with out contract factories to promote their understanding of the proposed law and open a dialogue for their input into the process”

The ITGLWF has asked Nike to consider making approaches to AmCham to withdraw the representation that it has made to the Chinese government, on the grounds that the submission does not appear to have been the subject of a proper consultation process and does not reflect the views of one of AmCham’s key members.

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The International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation is a global union federation bringing together 220 affiliated organisations in 110 countries with a combined membership of 10 million workers.
For more information, contact:
Neil Kearney (General Secretary) at 32/475932487 (mobile) or nkearney@itglwf.org
ITGLWF Secretariat at tel: 32/02/512.26.06, fax: 32/02/512.09.04 or office@itglwf.org
Visit our website at www.itglwf.org