Nike Contractor to Pay $1M to Indonesian Workers in Overtime Settlement
Last week a Nike Inc. contractor factory in Indonesia agreed to pay workers over $1 million to settle allegations that the shoe manufacturer forced workers to perform a daily hour of overtime work without compensation.
Workers at the Nike contractor, PT Nikomas Gemilang IY, allege that they were routinely forced to perform an hour of overtime off the clock in order to meet targeted production levels. Local unions complained that the workers performed nearly 600,000 hours of unpaid overtime over the past two years. After 11 months of negotiations, the company agreed to settle with the workers for approximately $1 million. Each worker involved in the settlement – 4,500 – will be entitled to receive approximately $222.
A Nike spokesman, Brian Strong, commented that “the decisive actions taken by the PT Nikomas Gemilang IY plant clearly demonstrate how seriously they are taking the allegations of workplace misconduct” and that “Nike commends the factory on their action plan and efforts to correct inadequacies in current policies designed to protect the rights of workers.”
Strong also indicated that the factory will take further steps to ensure that workers’ rights are respected in the future and announced that the factory will hire an outside organization approved by the Fair Labor Association – a Washington, DC-based advocacy group – to monitor the workers’ conditions.
According to reports, more than 160,000 people are involved in the manufacture of Nike products in Indonesia.
Tags: Fair Labor Association, indonesia, nike, nike factory, PT Nikomas Gemilang IY
