|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
League of Fans
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
APRIL 8, 2003
12:34 PM
|
CONTACT:
League
of Fans
Ralph Nader (202) 387-8030
Shawn
McCarthy (202) 387-8030 shawn@essential.org
|
|
|
|
Ralph Nader and League of Fans Ask LeBron
James to Push for Anti-Sweatshop Provisions in His Upcoming
Sneaker Contract
|
|
|
| WASHINGTON
- April 8 - Today, Ralph Nader and the sports industry watchdog
League of Fans sent a letter to high school basketball star LeBron
James asking him to advocate for sweatshop eradication measures
in his anticipated endorsement contract with either Nike or Adidas.
The letter follows:
Dear Mr. James:
Congratulations
on your outstanding accomplishments as both a student and an athlete
at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School.
It is widely
assumed that you will be declaring for the NBA draft in the coming
months and are projected by most commentators to be the number
one pick. With all of your potential both on and off the court,
some have even labeled you as the "next Michael Jordan."
While any basketball
player would revel in having their playing ability compared to
Michael Jordan's, we would like to take this opportunity to request
that you separate yourself from Michael Jordan in an area where
he has fallen markedly short. Mr. Jordan has always had the chance
to use his influence to do something wonderful for the well-being
of human beings in Nike's sweatshops (overseas factories where
workers are subject to extreme exploitation) whose work has helped
make him a multi-millionaire. He chooses not to support justice
for those people.
With your anticipated
endorsement contract with either Nike or Adidas, you have the
chance to do what Michael Jordan should have done and use your
cultural status to help make the world a better place by helping
to stop the use of sweatshop labor in the sports shoe and sports
apparel industry.
Nike and Adidas
(along with Reebok) are synonymous with sweatshops in Third-World
countries. Their products, typically manufactured by subcontracted
companies, have become symbols of labor rights violations, paltry
wages, forced overtime and abuse for hundreds of thousands of
workers. And despite pressure from around the world, Nike and
Adidas still choose to maximize profits by undermining human rights
standards.
It does not
matter which of these companies you ultimately choose to endorse,
but we ask that you stand up for the people who will be manufacturing
the products that will make you a wealthy man. If you demand in
your contract, whether it is with Nike or Adidas, that they improve
the conditions of the contracted factories that manufacture their
products and that you have power to influence and review the working
conditions for those who make the products you endorse, it will
pressure the entire sports shoe and apparel industry to change.
Some refer
to Michael Jordan as the "king of sweatshops" for being the world's
most successful salesman of sweatshop-made shoes. As New York
Times columnist Harvey Araton wrote in September 2001, "No one
has ever confused you, Michael, with Muhammed Ali or Martina Navratilova
or Arthur Ashe. With your icon leverage you might have helped
convert Nike, the notorious third-world workplace abuser, but
you didn't do causes that were not commercials."
In the coming
weeks and months, you will find yourself in a strong position
with the ability to help diminish or even eliminate some sweatshops.
As Nike and Adidas compete for your services, we urge you to push
for inclusion of as many of the following contract conditions
as possible. In their global operations, including those of contractors
and subcontractors, Nike/Adidas must:
1) Ensure the
enforcement of workers' rights to organize and bargain collectively
(unionize) without intimidation.
2) Signal to
factory owners and governments in supplier countries that enforcement
of labor standards, including increased wages, will not lead to
relocation in search of even cheaper labor.
3) Ensure that
workers are paid living wages which are at least adequate to meet
the basic needs of family and allow a small amount of discretionary
income.
4) Ensure that
workplaces are safe and healthy, eliminating exposure to toxic
chemicals, providing adequate personal protective equipment and
protecting workers from dangerous machinery.
5) Ensure that
workers are not forced or coerced into working unreasonably long
hours and that workers can obtain sick leave.
6) Ensure that
workers are free from physical and verbal abuse, intimidation
and sexual harassment.
7) Secure the
protection of workers who speak out or blow-the-whistle on poor
factory conditions.
8) Make public
the names and locations of all overseas contractors.
9) Work with
international unions and human rights organizations to establish
a transparent factory monitoring program that is verified by credible
organizations which are completely independent of the companies
themselves and involve unannounced factory visits. (Such a program
was created by United Students Against Sweatshops, an organization
of college students and community members at over 200 college
campuses across the country. They developed the Worker Rights
Consortium (WRC) in 2000 to verify and inspect conditions in factories
producing apparel for colleges and universities and to ensure
that the apparel of WRC member schools (112 and growing) are not
made in sweatshops.)
10) Guarantee,
with confirmation from an independent organization through a transparent
factory monitoring program, that any product that uses the "LeBron
James" name or likeness meets the conditions negotiated initially.
If Nike or
Adidas were to meet these demands, the lives of hundreds of thousands
of people would be improved immediately. You will have your greatest
leverage to push the companies to meet as many of these conditions
as possible during your contract negotiations with them. It is
then that you can best seek legally binding, written commitments.
If you proceed to advocate for as much of this sweatshop eradication
agenda as possible, you would be respected throughout the world
for not just your ability to play basketball, but for your generosity
as a human being in doing your part to make the world a better
place.
This is of
course a lot to ask of a young man. But you are on the verge of
choosing to immerse yourself in the world of international commerce,
which inevitably brings with it a wide array of complicated and
difficult challenges and decisions. Moreover, in choosing to leverage
your power to diminish the evils of sweatshops, you can call not
just on the talents of your agent and legal representatives, but
a vast array of experts and activists who have visited sweatshops
around the world, carefully documented conditions in these facilities,
lobbied tirelessly for the major athletic shoe, clothing and equipment
makers to respect basic working conditions, and who have established
bona fide and independent mechanisms to monitor workplace conditions.
These experts and activists, many little older than yourself,
would be thrilled to assist you in the effort to ensure respect
for the basic rights of workers in athletic shoe, clothing and
equipment factories around the world.
Sincerely,
Ralph Nader
Shawn McCarthy
Director, League of Fans
###
|
|
|
Common Dreams NewsCenter is a non-profit news service
providing breaking news and views for the Progressive Community.
The
press release posted here has been provided to Common Dreams NewsWire by
one of the many progressive organizations who make up America's Progressive Community.
If
you wish to comment on this press release or would like more information,
please contact the organization directly.
*all times Eastern US (GMT-5:00)
Making News?
Read our Guidelines
for Submitting News Releases
© Copyright
1997-2003 Common Dreams.
www.commondreams.org
|
|
