Keady crusade continues

By: Joe Ayling - 28 June 2010 17:18

I stumbled across this website during my cyberspace travels today (28 June) - a one man crusade to improve working conditions at Nike suppliers in Asia.

Judging by his video, many at Nike will already be familiar with Jim Keady.

In 1998 he gave up his position at St John’s University Athletic Department in New York because of their endorsement deal with the brand.

Since then he has ran a campaign called Team Sweat, which is concerned about the conditions of supplier factories in Indonesia.

The campaigner really ruffles some feathers when he turns up unannounced at Nike's Oregon campus to interview CEO Phil Knight (see video).

Nike products are made by approximately 600 contract factories that employ more than 800,000 workers in 46 countries around the world.

The company looks at social compliance extensively through its Corporate Responsibility Report, and just like all big brands requires its suppliers to pay workers at least the locally mandated minimum wage and benefits.

What Keady's campaign is demanding, though, is a bigger slice of Nike's profits going the way of its factory workers.