Freedom of association and collective bargaining: Response from Nike

Summary: Nike has signed up to the agreement on freedom of association negotiated between brands, unions and suppliers in Indonesia, but needs to do more across all its suppliers to create a positive climate for trade unionism and collective negotiating.

Nike has signed up to the protocol on freedom of association between major sportswear brands, unions and suppliers in Indonesia, and played a key role in the negotiations. Nike says it plans to roll out the protocol to all its suppliers by the end of October 2011, and encourage them to sign up. Once signed, this ground breaking protocol binds Nike suppliers to implement a series of reforms to ensure this right is respected including: workers being able to join/form a union without employers interfering; negotiating a bargaining agreement on the basis (or stronger) of the protocol; and trade union reps being given time to carry out their trade union duties. In general, Nike requires its suppliers to respect the right to freedom of association and take a position of ‘non-interference’ with regards to workers wishing to join or form a union.

Play Fair’s view:

Play Fair recognises that Nike has signed up to the protocol on freedom of association and played a constructive role in related negotiations in Indonesia. We welcome Nike’s plans to work with suppliers to encourage them to sign up to the protocol and implement it in factories.

With regards to Nike’s wider approach on respecting the right to form/join a trade union, Play Fair contends that ‘non-interference’ suggests taking a neutral position on respecting a fundamental human right. This approach has not proved adequate in deterring some Nike suppliers from violating this human right. In addition, Nike’s use of social audits to monitor working conditions is failing to capture these violations. Recent research by the ITGLWF (2010) into working conditions in Nike’s supply chains in Indonesia and Sri Lanka found systematic and pervasive violations of the right to form/join a trade union and discrimination against trade union members. In Sri Lanka, Employees Councils and Joint Consultative Committees, which do not meet the International Labour Organisation’s definition of freedom of association, are being used to undermine trade union organising.

Play Fair welcomes recent steps taken by Nike to write to its Sri Lankan suppliers informing them that Employees Councils and Joint Consultative Committees do not fulfill the right to freedom of association – this action resulted from a joint meeting with local unions, brands, the TUC and ITGLWF. However, we believe that Nike needs to take a more proactive approach and work with suppliers to create a positive climate for freedom of association. Nike could do this by asking its suppliers to sign access agreements with trade unions, and by requiring suppliers to inform workers that they have a right to organise and bargain collectively. Play Fair believes that Nike should take these proactive and positive steps systematically across its entire supply chain, not on a case-by-case, ‘violation-by-violation’ basis. By taking a positive approach to freedom of association, Nike could play an important role in empowering workers to secure better working conditions, and promote gender equality, as 80% of workers in sportswear supply chains are women.