Students and Workers triumph over Nike
Nike finally cough up $1.54 million to workers in Honduras who were left without severance pay after factory closures.
In January 2009, two factories in Honduras closed, leaving nearly two thousand workers without severance pay. These factories produced goods for Nike, the largest sportswear company in the world, but Nike denied any responsibility towards the workers. This could have been the whole story, but workers and students around the globe have been working together to achieve a groundbreaking victory against corporate power. After a year of campaigning, the Honduran workers were awarded cash compensation of $1.54 million.
The growing links between workers and students across national borders have been central to this success. The Worker Rights Consortium (WRC) connected the disgruntled workers with US students by preparing a report on the situation, which they sent to more than a hundred American universities. United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) mounted a huge pressure campaign telling Nike to “Just Pay It!” with waves of protests held outside Nike stores. Students at universities across the US got involved with actions and petitions. The University of Wisconsin terminated their contracts with Nike in a historic move showing the immense potential power that students hold over corporations.
The student campaign went international when People & Planet wrote to Nike, threatening to add British students’ voices to the campaign through People & Planet’s rapidly growing Buy Right Campaign. People and Planet and USAS have worked together successfully before, and hope to strengthen these links over the coming year. UK Student campaigner Matt Mcmullen says,
“It was less than a year ago that students from People & Planet and United Students Against Sweatshops came together to campaign across border in solidarity with Honduran Fruit of the Loom garment workers… Students are at the forefront of the anti-sweatshop movement, fighting in solidarity with workers for a world free of exploitation.”
- Find out more about People & Planet’s Buy Right Campaign.
