Nike Factories in Vietnam: The Exploitation of Vietnamese Worker

Global/Foreign Issue
by Elden Mabini
January 4, 2010
Sociological Concept: Conflict Theory

Introduction:

http://www.clrlabor.org/alerts/1997/nike_worker1.html

NIKE IN VIETNAM: an eyewitness account written by Thuyen Nguyen, Vietnam Labor watch

In this article, author Thuyen Nguyen talks about the working conditions of a Nike Shoes factory in Vietnam. She investigates on how much workers in the factory get paid, type of benefits, and working conditions. She stayed in Vietnam for 16 days and talked to the workers of the factory. She feels that it is good that Nike is providing jobs for Vietnam, but working conditions and pay is very harsh.

Excerp from article:

“ I spoke to 35 workers individually and at length. Most Nike workers are young women from poor rural areas of VN. They have no work in the countryside and their families cannot support them, so they are forced to come to HCMC to look for work. These are young women used to working on farms, used to poor living conditions. Yet they told me that their lives working in Nike factories are even worse.

Many of them work up to12 hours/day. They work in noisy, hot factories that are filled with the smell of paint and glue. In an 8-hour shift, they are not allowed to go to the bathroom more than once; they are not allowed to have a drink of water more than twice.

The basic wage for a factory worker is $1.60 per day but the cost of eating is about $2. None of them save enough money to send home to their families. All of them require some help from family members in terms of money, food or housing.”

Sociological Analysis:

In a socialist perspective, I would apply conflict theory in all aspects to this article/situation. Nike shoes are being sold in America starting from about $79.00 +. The most expensive pair of shoes I have seen was $500.00 and there may be more expensive shoes. The people working in the Nike factories in Vietnam are getting paid $1.60 a day. As you can see, there is a lot of profit being made here.

Nike targets workers from rural, poor, and feminine origin. They targeted these types of workers because they need any type of job to support their family, no matter the pay. The good view to this situation is that Nike is providing jobs from Vietnam citizens that were not available. Poor citizens could now work and provide for their family. The downside to this is that the pay is horrible and working conditions are even worse. I watched a video on this issue and it said that the workers did not have any benefits or health insurance. If they got sick, they would not have the funds or resources t take care of themselves. The video also showed that there were harmful fumes and chemicals that they had to deal with and the proper gloves and face mask was not provided. So tell me, is getting paid $1.60 a day worth this type of harmful working conditions. The Vietnamese workers do not think so, but have no other choice or source of income.

I would apply conflict theory to this situation because all sectors of society are working together functionally. Vietnam can now provide more jobs for their citizens and Nike can save money from cheap labor which results in more profit. The conflict is that the working conditions and pay is extremely harsh and Nike does not even provide the proper protection from all the hazardous chemicals for their workers. Nike is making money from the exploitation of Vietnamese workers.

Personal Opinion

I feel that the Corporate Nike should take care of their workers, even the foreign workers. This situation goes against what American workers believe in. That’s one of the reasons why unions were created. Nike may make a lot of profit from cheap labor, but is it really worth it? Nike should really take a look into the working conditions and at least provide some type of health insurance or protective wear.