From: JWkeady@aol.com
Date: Mon Jan 14 2002 - 17:58:24 EST
EDUCATING FOR JUSTICE
NIKE CAMPAIGN E-NEWS
JANUARY 2002
EFJ IN ACTION
* 2001-2002 Speaking Tour: January Dates
* EFJ Director Runs Olympic Torch Relay Barefoot
* Worker Education and Resource Center: Update
* Two Internships Available with EFJ
* Action of the Month: Write to Nike-Sponsored USA Hockey
EFJ IN THE NEWS
* Protesters Make Hay at Games Torch Relay (Deseret News)
* Barefoot and Angry (Philadelphia Weekly)
* Battling Nike: Believing In A Cause Whatever The Cost (Star Ledger News)
* Hear Kretzu and Keady on Democracy Now! With Amy Goodman
* Hear Kretzu and Keady on NPR (WNYC) with Mario Murio
OTHER CAMPAIGN NEWS
* Nike Concedes Victory
* FLA Leader Moves On
EFJ IN ACTION
2001-2002 SPEAKING TOUR: JANUARY DATES
January 22 University of Chicago - 7pm
January 23 Loyola University (Chicago) - 4pm
January 25-26 USAS Midwest Conference
University of Wisconsin, Madison (times TBA)
January 28 Grand Valley State University (MI) - 7pm
If you would like specific information on speaking tour locations, please
contact us at educate4justice@aol.com.
EFJ DIRECTOR RUNS OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY BAREFOOT
On December 22nd, EFJ co-Director Leslie Kretzu ran in the Olympic Torch
relay in downtown Philadelphia. Despite the 35 degree weather, she ran
barefoot as an act of solidarity with Nike factory workers whose demands for
human rights continue to go unrecognized by Nike, a sponsor of the Salt Lake
City 2002 Winter Games and outfitter of both women's and men's U.S. Olympic
ice hockey teams as well as the U.S. speed-skating team.
By running barefoot, Kretzu sought to raise awareness about the conditions
under which Nike apparel and athletic gear is made. "The Olympic charter
calls for 'encouraging the establishment of a peaceful society concerned with
the preservation of human dignity'. The International Olympic Committee and
Olympians need to be aware that sponsors like Nike blatantly violate this
charter and undermine the very ideals upon which the Olympic Games were
founded. It is time that the IOC and Olympic athletes actively pressure
multinational sponsors to live up to this Olympic ideal."
EFJ teamed up with the Free Burma Coalition to call attention to the
International Olympic Committee's decision to purchase Torchbearer uniforms
from Burma. The democracy movement in Burma, much like that of South Africa
in the 80's, has called for an end to foreign investment which keeps the
ruling military regime financially stable and functional. Multinational corpo
rations have been pulling out of Burma by the dozens due to pressure by
activists; however, the International Olympic Committee, who should be well
versed on the political situation in Burma, chose to have their uniforms
manufactured there, despite the call to avoid business in Burma from the
democracy movement and 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi,
Burma's freely elected leader, who is currently under house arrest by the
ruling military regime.
To learn more about the labor situation in Burma, visit
www.freeburmacoalition.org. If you would like to write to the IOC and
express your concerns about their decision to purchase goods from Burma, send
your letters to:
Jacque Rogge, International Olympic Committee President
Château de Vidy
Case Postale 356
1007 Lausanne
Switzerland
Sandra Baldwin, President
United States Olympic Committee
One Olympic Plaza
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80909
USA
WORKER EDUCATION AND RESOURCE CENTER: UPDATE
EFJ's plans to build a Worker Education and Resource Center in Tangerang,
Indonesia are continuing to move along smoothly. In the past month, we
received the site plans from our Indonesian-based architect and our
Indonesian-based staff has chosen a plot of land for the center. This past
week, Sobirin, our Indonesian team leader, was to meet with the Director of
the Jesuit-run Jakarta Social Institute (ISJ), with the hope of solidifying a
relationship with ISJ as our primary program partner.
TWO INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE WITH EFJ
Educating for Justice is currently seeking to fill two internships to assist
in our Nike Corporate Accountability Campaign. The interns will help EFJ
with the development of focused pressure campaigns with measurable results
for workers in Nike's 13 Indonesian production plants.
Interns will work from their home locations and will have guided support via
email and telephone from EFJ Directors, Jim Keady and Leslie Kretzu.
Interested students should send a letter of interest and a resume to
educate4justice@aol.com. Women and people of color are strongly encouraged
to apply.
ACTION OF THE MONTH: WRITE TO NIKE-SPONSORED USA HOCKEY
Please take the time to write to the Head Coaches of the Nike-Sponsored USA
Hockey teams, who will compete in the 2002 Olympic Games, and ask them to
require Nike to disclose the names and locations of the factories that
produce ALL of their team equipment.
Getting disclosure of factory locations is a MAJOR campaign goal to ensure
that effective and objective research and monitoring is done at these
locations. To date, Nike has reluctantly disclosed roughly 35 of their 700
global manufacturing plants, due to pressure by concerned consumers,
students, athletes, and activists.
You can write to the coaches at the following address:
USA Hockey, Inc.
1775 Bob Johnson Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80906-4090
Phone: (719) 576-USAH (8724)
Fax: (719) 538-1160
E-Mail: usah@usahockey.org
U.S. Women's Team Head Coach: Ben Smith
U.S. Women's Team Captain: Cammi Granato
U.S. Men's Head Coach: Herb Brooks
EFJ IN THE NEWS
PROTESTERS MAKE HAY AT GAMES TORCH RELAY
By Dennis Romboy
Deseret News staff writer
12/29/2001
(Excerpt)
Leslie Kretzu ran her leg of the 2002 Olympic torch relay
barefoot in frigid Philadelphia to call attention to what she says are
abusive labor practices in Nike factories overseas…
Several groups or individuals have used or plan to use the 2002 Winter Games
torch relay as a platform for their causes. While protesters have not
disrupted the 65-day event, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee prefers they
stay away…
So far, only the barefooted Kretzu actually demonstrated while carrying the
Olympic flame. But she points out that nothing she did violated SLOC rules…
Kretzu, whose sister nominated her for her human rights activities, said she
started brainstorming about how to use the relay immediately after being
chosen. She spent a month living with factory workers in Indonesia last year.
"It would be so hypocritical of me on this special day to turn a blind eye to
those people I am committed to every other day," said Kretzu, who held a news
conference afterward.
Olympic historian Kevin Wamsley said he's never heard of a runner using the
torch relay as vehicle to protest.
"That's interesting," said the director of the International Center for
Olympic Studies at the University of Western Ontario. "That's not say it
hasn't happened (before) but I'm not aware of it."
For the full text of the article and a photo of Leslie go to:
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,355015665,00.html
BAREFOOT AND ANGRY
By Brian Hickey
Philadelphia Weekly
December 26, 2001
In 2001, local sweatshop activists spoke to roughly 10,000 people and were
asked to brief Congress about labor abuses. But those accomplishments were
surely rivaled by what they planned for Broad Street this past Saturday.
Leslie Kretzu, a Roxborough native and co-director of Educating for Justice,
was selected to carry the Olympic torch from Reed Street to Federal Street as
part of the 11,500-person relay team passing the symbolic flame to Salt Lake
City for February's opening ceremony.
Potential torchbearers were nominated by people who considered them sources
of inspiration--Kretzu's sister Carolyn wrote the Salt Lake Organizing
Committee to say Leslie "works every day for people across the world."
Specifically, she pointed out that her little sister once lived in Indonesia
on $1.25 a day in order to draw attention to the plight of factory workers
overseas. When selected to run a .2-mile stretch of Broad Street, Kretzu
decided she had to do more than just pass the torch along. "My family's
asking why I have to protest this. I'd really love to just enjoy the moment.
It is an incredible tradition that I'll cherish," Kretzu says. "But it'd be
an injustice to ignore what I do every other day of the year." So to roll
honor and protest into one, Kretzu opted to run barefoot--never a good idea
on any Philadelphia street, especially in December--and hold a press
conference to discuss conditions in Nike's overseas plants. "It's my duty to
use this opportunity to preserve the true spirit of the games and speak out
against the injustice that one of their major sponsors inflicts on its
workers," she says.
Among other contributions, Nike designed uniforms for the entire
speed-skating team and will outfit both the U.S. men's and women's ice-hockey
squads. But this is not the first time Nike's drawn Olympic-time protest.
Members of the 1992 U.S. Basketball "Dream Team" draped flags over their
uniform swooshes during the medal presentation--but they were just honoring
their endorsement contracts with Reebok. The common thinking this time was
that Nike might try to squash any protest--but Kretzu says she didn't hear a
word before making her Broad Street stand. "I just don't think they knew
about it beforehand," she says.
(http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives/article.asp?ArtID=1379)
BATTLING NIKE: BELIEVING IN A CAUSE WHATEVER THE COST
By Brad Parks
Newark Star-Ledger
December 23, 2001
Jim Keady knows who makes your sneakers. He knows it is a woman who lives in
a cement box that has a leaky tin roof, or a man who works 12 hours a day and
still has to borrow money from the factory to pay his bills, or a woman who
stitches as many as 2,000 shoes a day but cannot afford to see a movie.
Keady has traveled to Indonesia and eaten meals with them, slept in their
houses, held their children. He says God called him to make sure the Western
world does not forget them. So when Keady walks into your living room, locker
room or classroom, he makes this simple request: "Just think about who makes
your shoes." He will tell you it's someone who pays for your sneakers with
their dignity because a wealthy, multinational corporation such as Nike has
profit margins to maintain.
Keady is not the first to seize this cause, although he is among the last who
haven't abandoned it. The smoosh-the-swoosh campaign, once popular in the
activist community, has become an increasingly lonely mission for Keady. Yet
if you ask him why -- why can't he move on like everyone else? Why did he
throw away a promising soccer coaching career for this? Why has a regular guy
from the New Jersey suburbs dedicated his life to helping people on the other
side of the planet? He will tell you it's because he knows who makes your
shoes. And Keady can't live with himself unless he's doing something about
it.
TOUGH CHOICES
The crusade has come at a cost. In the four years he has warred against Nike,
Keady has alienated friends who, frankly, don't understand what happened to
the guy they grew up with in Belmar. He has lost a career as a college soccer
coach because no school wants to take a risk on a loose cannon. He has chosen
to value his convictions above all else. "Jim could do whatever he wants,"
said Mike Pierantozzi, a former fraternity brother from St. Joseph's. "He's a
super-bright guy. He could make a bundle of money somewhere else. But he's
decided to make this his life."
So today, at a time in his life when houses should be building equity and
401(k)s should be funded weekly, Keady is a 30-year-old with $30,000 in
credit-card debt, $2,000 in his checking account, and an aging Ford Explorer
closing in on 200,000 miles. He lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Asbury
Park, a place where the living room and kitchen are separated by a plastic
sliding partition. The office -- a small desk shoved against a window by the
front door -- holds the extent of his tools for the crusade: a laptop
computer and a printer. From here Keady attacks the world's largest sports
apparel company, a behemoth with $9 billion in annual revenue and 550,000
workers. He supports himself with the money he makes doing local soccer
clinics. He buys his clothes and shoes carefully, making sure to know how and
where they are made. He constantly asks himself questions like, do I really
need a second pair of khakis?
When his family buys him clothes or other gifts he deems nonessential, he
gives them away. For Christmas, Keady has asked his parents for paper, file
folders and printer cartridges, because that's what he needs to continue his
work. His mother knows that when her friends ask, "And what is your son doin
g?" she won't be able to talk about his latest job promotion. But she is
comfortable with that. "What's the point of being vice president of a bank if
you're not happy? He's happy," said Kathleen Keady, Jim's mother. "He truly
believes in what he's doing. How many people can say that?"
MAKING HEADLINES
Protesting Nike is time-capsule stuff as far as most people are concerned,
something that worked in 1996 or 1997 but seems passé now. Back then, it was
a hot issue -- even Kathie Lee Gifford was in on it -- and Nike, which sells
175 million pairs of shoes each year, made an easy, high-profile target. It
was a hot story, too, and the media pumped out a series of exposés. And
there, in the middle of it, was Jim Keady.
In 1997, he was on the men's soccer staff at St. John's University and
refused to wear Nike's ubiquitous corporate logo, the swoosh. After St.
John's signed an endorsement deal with Nike, Keady quit in protest, and
instantly became a fresh face in the Nike labor story that HBO and ESPN
couldn't pass up. But soon Nike grew wise. CEO Phil Knight announced his
company had a problem, and the company did its public penance, pledging to
improve the lives of its workers. The company spent $7 million to fund a
global watchdog organization and millions of dollars more on public
relations. Nike increased wages, took responsibility for human rights abuses
in its factories and improved working conditions. "There is no question the
Nike factory worker is better off today than four to five years ago when this
issue was first raised," said Vada Manager, Nike's director of global issues.
Manager said workers are paid above the minimum wage in their countries and
are given free meals, allowances for transportation and health care, and, in
some places, subsidized housing.
As progress was made, the protesters backed off. Even Jeff Ballinger, the
founding father of the anti-Nike movement, spends most of his time working in
other areas. "This has been institutionalized into more of a monitoring
operation," Ballinger said. "Compliance is now just another corporate func
tion." The cameras are gone. The reporters are gone. "And I'm still here,"
Keady said.
CHANGING DIRECTION
You wouldn't immediately figure Keady for an uncompromising activist, a
Gandhi-quoting radical or a full-time Nike bunion. He's a clean-cut,
down-to-earth, 6-3, red-haired soccer nut who bears a passing resemblance to
Ron Howard's Richie Cunningham. His first instinct in conflict resolution is
to grab a beer and talk things out. And while his convictions may sound
tofu-and-pita, his upbringing was strictly white bread.
His family lived comfortably in Belmar, a few blocks from the beach. He
played soccer, he car-pooled, he went to church every Sunday. He graduated
from Christian Brothers Academy and went on a partial soccer scholarship at
St. Joseph's, where he served as president of Lamda Chi Alpha. His mother
believed Jim was going to be a priest because he always had a spiritual side.
Keady had his life figured this way: "Go to Wall Street, be a broker, retire
at 35 with my trophy wife and two Mercedes," he said.
But a young man's world view can be a volatile thing, and Keady's began
evolving during a yearlong post-graduation journey in 1994 when he visited
several developing nations, including Indonesia. "In terms of the reality of
the world, you can put blinders on growing up in Belmar," Keady said. "But
when you start putting names and faces and human stories to the statistics
you hear in social studies class, it gets harder to dismiss." Keady
sidestepped Wall Street and took a job at St. John Vianney High School in
Holmdel, teaching theology and coaching soccer while also playing
professionally as a goalkeeper with a minor-league team called the Imperials.
Then two things happened: He met the head soccer coach at St. John's, Dave
Masur, who played for the Imperials, and his theology students at St. John
Vianney started asking questions about God that Keady couldn't answer. That
led to Keady taking a job coaching the goalkeepers at St. John's in the Fall
of 1997 while simultaneously pursuing a master's degree in theology at the
university. St. John's had won the national championship the previous year,
so it was a great career move. And he was able, as he put it, to "get closer
to God." Then two more things happened: Keady started writing a paper about
Nike's labor practices for a theology class called "Moral Person, Moral
Society," and St. John's began negotiations for a $3.5 million endorsement
deal with Nike. Under terms of the contract, common at most large
universities, Nike would pay to have St. John's coaches and athletes wear
their products. Soon, Keady was in the midst of a dilemma that would define
his life.
A TURNING POINT
Keady's research convinced him Nike's success was built on the backs of the
poor in developing nations. And priests always had taught him Catholics were
supposed to care for the impoverished, not oppress them. "All throughout
Catholic Social Teaching is the notion that workers have a right to a living
wage," said Father Paul Surlis, Keady's professor. "It's clear to anyone who
studies this issue there is a major hypocrisy on the part of any Catholic
institution that accepts money to promote a company like Nike." It was clear
to Keady, too. Everything seemed to be converging -- his earlier exposure to
poverty, his thoughts about God, his research.
"Jim was having his eyes opened to injustice," said Leslie Kretzu, his
girlfriend and fellow activist. "He was starting to question things he had
always taken for granted." How could he, a practicing Catholic, make himself
a billboard for Nike? How could he cast himself among the hypocrites?
"I'm very tuned in to the clues I think God is trying to give me," Keady
said. "And God was giving me a big clue."
St. John's agreed the university had a moral imperative to demand change, but
disagreed on the method. St. John's preferred to donate part of its Nike
money to efforts to improve workers' lives while using its relationship with
Nike as leverage to force change. "We're not saying Nike has reached the
promised land," said Rev. James Maher, St. John's vice president for
university ministry. "But it's a complex issue and it takes time."
Keady says he was given the ultimatum: Wear the swoosh or resign. St. John's
says Keady decided to leave of his own accord. Either way, Keady left the
school in 1998, then filed an $11 million wrongful termination suit against
St. John's and Nike in 1999. Federal judges twice have dismissed the case,
saying it lacks merit. Keady says he has new representation and will file a
new lawsuit in state court.
KEEPING UP THE FIGHT
The lawsuit quickly became just one part of Keady's ongoing campaign. His
latest tactic, since Sept. 11, is challenging athletes to cover their logos
with American flags and "reclaim their gear for democracy." Other projects
include raising money for a worker's education/empowerment center in
Indonesia, working on documentaries about the people he has met, and writing
a book about his experiences. Keady spends his days speaking on college
campuses and elsewhere. He tells audiences about how he confronted Nike CEO
Phil Knight at a restaurant in Nike's corporate headquarters in Beaverton,
Ore., only to be summarily brushed off. He tells them Nike endorsers Michael
Jordan and Tiger Woods are "cowards to the core" for not going to Indonesia
and learning "where their wealth is generated."
Jordan said he would "look into it" and promised to visit factories in 1996,
but never did. Woods said, "I just play golf," when first asked about the
issue; now he says he is comfortable with the efforts Nike has made to remedy
itself. Keady says he will drop his lawsuit immediately if Jordan, Woods or
Knight agree to come with him to Indonesia, tour the industrial neighborhoods
outside Jakarta, and meet workers. With cameras rolling, of course. It's
typical Keady.
He has a list of demands -- doubling workers' wages, unilateral recognition
of independent labor unions and allowing college athletes to decide not to
wear the swoosh -- that Nike says are either ridiculous, unrealistic or
ignorant of economic reality. Manager, the Nike executive, calls Keady,
"passionate but misinformed." Surlis, the St. John's professor, calls Keady,
"tough and in-your-face." Ballinger, the Nike critic, calls Keady, "a
bulldog."
Keady will debate anyone, anywhere, any time on the Nike issue.
"Nike and St. John's say I need to work within the system? Well, the system
is evil," Keady said. "I'm not going to be patient and wait for them to
change because there are people who can't feed their kids today."
Keady has been to Indonesia twice in the past 18 months. The first time, he
lived in a 9-by-9-foot cement box, sleeping on the floor, fending off rats,
slapping mosquitoes, relieving himself in a communal bathroom he likened to,
"the nastiest public bathroom you've ever seen -- multiplied by 10." He
wanted to do his best to simulate the life of a factory worker, so he lived
on a typical worker's wage: $1.25 a day. In one month, he lost 25 pounds off
his athletic body.
Keady wants you to get to know these people, because he's convinced if
Americans can make a human connection with the workers in Indonesia -- the
way he has -- they'll demand change, too. And then his sacrifice will have
been worthwhile. "The stakes are so high," Keady said. "I used to think I
played for high stakes when I was an athlete. This isn't a championship or a
trophy. We're talking about millions of human beings."
(http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/sports/ledger/1563285.html)
HEAR KRETZU AND KEADY ON DEMOCRACY NOW! WITH AMY GOODMAN
"Over the weekend, human rights activist and Olympic torchbearer Leslie Kr
etzu ran barefoot through the streets of Philadelphia as an act of solidarity
with Nike's overseas factory workers. Bringing new meaning to this year's
Olympic theme of "celebrating humanity," Leslie used her 0.2 miles of track
to draw attention to the unrecognized millions who produce the uniforms and
equipment that allow athletes to compete in the Olympics."
Listen to this program online at:
http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/exile/dn20011224.html
HEAR KRETZU AND KEADY ON NPR (WNYC) WITH MARIO MURIO
Don't Do It! Olympic Athletes Boycott Nike
Listen to this program online at:
http://www.wnyc.org/new/talk/ontheline/otlaudio.html
(you will need to scroll down to December 26, 2001)
OTHER CAMPAIGN NEWS
NIKE CONCEDES VICTORY
Campaign for Labor Rights
December 12, 2001
(Excerpt)
Sportswear Giant Promises to Place Orders with Unionized Factory
Responding to letters from over 6,000 people from 17 countries, Nike has
publicly declared its intent to resume orders with the Mexmode, formerly
Kukdong, garment factory in Atlixco, Mexico. The factory produces sweatshirts
for Nike and Reebok, and licensed Nike sweatshirts for a number of US
universities that have adopted No Sweat purchasing policies.
If Nike keeps its promise to resume placing orders with the factory, possibly
in the spring of this year, the workers' achievement of the only independent
union with a signed collective agreement in a Mexican maquiladora factory
will be secure. The proof of Nike's commitment to not "cut and run" from the
factory now that the workers have won an independent union will be the
timeliness and volume of orders it places with the factory. Nike campaigners
around the world will be watching.
The victory is all the more important because Mexmode workers were successful
in replacing the CROC, a corrupt "official" union affiliated with Mexico's
historical ruling party, the PRI, with an independent, democratic union,
SITEMEX. This achievement establishes an important precedent for workers in
Mexico's over 3,500 maquila factories. The "official" unions often provide
protection for employers, preventing workers from organizing authentic unions
to improve their wages and working conditions.
FLA LEADER MOVES ON
Commentary
By Jim Keady
Educating for Justice
If Judy Sarasohn's December 20th Washington Post piece "FLA Leader Moves On"
is to be true to the reality of the situation, it should have read as
follows: After starting up an office for the Fair Labor Association over two
years ago, Sam Brown, executive director of the FLA is leaving, without
relatively much to show for his efforts. Despite a multimillion dollar
budget, the backing of the US Government, and full access to companies like
Nike, Brown and the FLA have done little to improve the lives of workers
producing for US apparel giants. In fact, one might say that Brown and
company have set the struggle for labor rights back significantly by the
political cover they offer(ed) to companies. I think the effectiveness of a
group like the FLA and the effectiveness of corporate monitoring was stated
best in an e-mail I recently received from a supporter of our campaign:
"I worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers in developing Corporate Monitoring
Programs (namely codes of conduct and the audit processes) for organizations
including Nike, Disney, McDonalds, and the American Manufacturer
Associations. I cannot articulate more clearly than you did today on
Democracy Now! the hypocrisy of these arch-exploiters. Please keep up the
good work and let me know if I can be of assistance."
The bottom-line is that the FLA under Brown's leadership was compromised in
its integrity given that it was/is beholden to corporate interests by the
very structure of the FLA and its governing principles. Unless this
structure changes, the FLA will continue to be a corporate puppet and by its
very presence in the international labor rights arena, it will undermine the
efforts of those genuinely struggling for the improvement of labor conditions
for our sisters and brothers in the developing world.
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