Nike Employment in Cambodia Kept Increasing Despite Labor Rights Concerns — ProPublica

When police used stun batons to hit garment employees looking for a $14 month-to-month increase from a Nike manufacturing unit in Cambodia in 2013, reportedly main one pregnant lady to miscarry, Nike mentioned it was “deeply concerned.”

The next yr, when Cambodian police opened hearth and killed 4 garment employees throughout widespread demonstrations over low wages, Nike and different manufacturers despatched the federal government a letter expressing “grave concern.”

In 2018, after the federal government curbed union rights, Nike and different manufacturers once more protested, this time in a gathering with authorities officers. An trade consultant described the businesses in a information launch as “increasingly concerned.”

A yr later, one other letter: “We are concerned.”

Regardless of the various shades of company concern, Cambodia continued descending deeper into authoritarian governance, and the dimensions of Nike’s contract workforce there saved going up.

Whereas Nike has been shrinking its footprint in China, its presence in Cambodia has grown, from about 16,000 manufacturing unit employees in Might 2013, to just about 35,000 in 2019, to greater than 57,000 as of March. In the present day, Cambodia is the athletic attire big’s third-largest provider of clothes apart from sneakers, practically overtaking its clothes manufacturing in China.

Different Western manufacturers have additionally continued increasing in Cambodia. The nation’s garment exports climbed from $4.9 billion in 2013 to $9.3 billion in 2022, in line with World Financial institution knowledge.

Alongside the way in which, labor leaders have been jailed; opposing politicians have gone into exile and been arrested or killed; journalists have been locked up and killed; and impartial media shops have been shuttered by the federal government.

The curbs on unions and free speech are in pressure with Nike’s code of conduct, which acknowledges employees’ rights to affix commerce unions and take part in union actions with out interference. In nations that limit union rights, Nike says factories should have an efficient grievance course of that permits workers to voice considerations over working situations with out worry of retaliation.

Nike’s continued progress in Cambodia underscores the extent of political and labor repression the corporate has been prepared to tolerate in nations that present cheap labor — letters of concern however.

“A whole lot of manufacturers have been signing letters for years as an alternative to actual strain, actual change,” mentioned Jason Judd, government director of Cornell College’s World Labor Institute.

Manufacturers growing their orders from Cambodia whereas elevating considerations about labor rights are “clearly combined messages,” Judd mentioned. “And one message, the acquisition order, has much more weight than the opposite. Till these are credibly threatened, the federal government has no motive to behave.”

Khun Tharo, program supervisor on the Middle for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, was focused final yr after his group printed a report figuring out gaps in manufacturing unit oversight. The federal government started auditing the authorized help group; Khun confronted a legal criticism that he mentioned his lawyer had been unable to see.

Khun advised ProPublica that manufacturers typically communicate up about employee rights due to prodding by civil society teams or the ire voiced by buying and selling companions.

For Nike and different manufacturers, “it’s about defending their market and accessibility and in addition credibility. That’s all,” Khun mentioned. With out strain on manufacturers to take motion, he mentioned, “they won’t do it. They are going to simply begin to ignore it.”

Nike didn’t reply on to written questions from ProPublica about its growth in Cambodia amid the nation’s intensifying political repression. As a substitute, it mentioned in an announcement: “We proceed to have interaction with suppliers, trade organizations and different world stakeholders to develop broad-based approaches to assist mitigate longer-term impacts.”

Labor rights are tenuous in Cambodia. The U.S. State Division mentioned in a 2023 human rights report that “important and systematic restrictions on employees’ freedom of affiliation” exist in Cambodia and that the federal government “did not successfully implement legal guidelines that protected union and labor rights.” Human Rights Watch mentioned in a 2022 report that the federal government’s repression of impartial unions had solely intensified after the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Former Khmer Rouge battalion commander Hun Sen led Cambodia from 1985 till handing management to his son, Hun Manet, in 2023. Hun Sen was brazen in his public dismissals of threats from the West over its assault on labor rights and civil society, mentioned Carlyle Thayer, emeritus professor of politics at Australia’s College of New South Wales, Canberra. The threats included warnings from Europe, U.S. lawmakers and worldwide clothes manufacturers.

The Cambodian authorities yielded simply sufficient to keep away from the total power of financial sanctions, Thayer mentioned.

He pointed to an episode wherein the European Fee threatened to finish tariff exemptions for Cambodian exports over considerations about human rights and labor abuses. Hun Sen directed the nation’s courts to shortly resolve circumstances pending in opposition to union officers, Thayer mentioned, resulting in suspended sentences for some and dropped prices for others.As a substitute of following by on its menace, the European Fee imposed a scaled-down set of commerce restrictions.

Manufacturers, together with Nike, have had some affect. After employees have been killed whereas protesting for increased wages in 2014, brands supported growing the minimal wage. The Cambodian authorities finally established a course of to yearly negotiate wage will increase.

A spokesperson for Cambodia’s Ministry of Labor and Vocational Coaching mentioned the incidents that led international manufacturers to boost considerations with the federal government have been “outdated,” deceptive and had been politicized. The spokesperson didn’t reply to subsequent questions after a reporter famous that the latest incident occurred throughout the final yr.

Ken Lavatory, a spokesperson for the Cambodian garment trade’s commerce affiliation, mentioned 1000’s of unions are registered within the nation. “I don’t agree along with your presumption that there’s a repressive setting right here in Cambodia,” he mentioned. “Particular person incidents don’t make up the entire story.”

Lots of Cambodia’s unions are government-aligned teams that Human Rights Watch has known as “immediate noodle” unions as a result of they take much less time to make than a cup of noodles. Unbiased unions have lengthy been underneath assault there, in line with American, European and different labor rights observers.

Yang Sophorn, president of the impartial Cambodian Alliance of Commerce Unions, was threatened in a July 2020 letter from the nation’s labor ministry after becoming a member of employees who protested exterior a garment manufacturing unit, Violet Attire. The manufacturing unit had closed instantly through the pandemic.

The previous Nike provider went on to develop into the topic of a long-standing dispute between labor advocates and Nike over wages that employees mentioned they have been nonetheless owed. Ramatex, Violet Attire’s father or mother firm, didn’t reply to ProPublica’s request for remark. Nike has mentioned publicly it’s discovered no proof to assist the allegations.

In its 2020 letter, the federal government advised Yang that she was breaking the legislation by inciting employees and pressuring the closed manufacturing unit to pay its workers. The letter mentioned the labor ministry may dissolve her impartial union, which represents greater than 5,000 employees who make garments in Nike factories. (The Cambodian labor ministry didn’t reply to ProPublica’s request for remark in regards to the letter.)

The labor chief had already acquired a suspended legal sentence. The federal government mentioned she instigated protests over wages, which occurred in 2013 and 2014. That conviction was finally vacated in what Human Rights Watch mentioned was an effort to placate European officers threatening Cambodia’s commerce entry.

Yang advised ProPublica she was not scared by the Cambodian authorities’s threats in opposition to her and her union. “In the event that they nonetheless wish to dissolve it,” she mentioned of the union, “let or not it’s.”

Yang mentioned she welcomes investments by Nike and different manufacturers as a result of they supply extra jobs for individuals in her nation. However she mentioned employees want good wages, the proper to assemble and protections when factories close without paying them. “If they only come to take advantage of our employees, I don’t need them,” she mentioned.

Nike has prided itself on the story of its turnaround since co-founder Phil Knight acknowledged in 1998 that its merchandise had develop into “synonymous with slave wages, compelled extra time and arbitrary abuse.”

One former senior Nike government, who requested anonymity so they might communicate freely about their former employer, mentioned the corporate had expanded in Cambodia to assist diversify its provide chain. The manager mentioned Nike and different manufacturers’ presence had benefited employees in Cambodia and different nations the place it manufactures.

“Nike has clearly acknowledged that the rule of legislation and respect for labor rights are important components in the place the corporate decides to position orders,” the chief mentioned.

However, the particular person mentioned, “Are issues imperfect, and are there plenty of screwups? Completely. Are we involved when Vietnam or Cambodia takes steps backward? After all.”

After Nike final yr underwent $2 billion in value chopping that disproportionately targeted its sustainability staff, together with individuals engaged on international manufacturing unit oversight, the previous government mentioned they nervous that Nike’s cuts had affected the corporate’s potential to have interaction with its stakeholders within the nations the place its factories function.

Nike was silent final yr when Cambodian authorities cracked down on the Middle for Alliance of Labor and Human Rights, the authorized help group. The federal government launched what was described as a “nationwide safety audit” of the group, also called CENTRAL, after it reported on oversight gaps by a United Nations-backed factory watchdog.

Two trade teams, one in every of which counts Nike as a participant, wrote to the federal government on July 12 saying that they had “severe considerations” that the audit’s solely objective was retaliation, condemning it “within the strongest attainable phrases.”

Nineteen main clothes corporations — from Adidas to VF Corp., proprietor of the North Face model — adopted up Sept. 10 with a joint letter protesting Cambodia’s assault on the group, additionally saying that they had “severe considerations.” Nike didn’t signal that letter.

“A vibrant civil society, assured partially by freedom of speech, is a key a part of what makes Cambodia an vital sourcing companion for the attire and footwear trade,” the businesses mentioned.

Nike didn’t clarify why it was not a signatory when requested by ProPublica.

Bryony Lau, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch, mentioned with the regular deterioration in employees’ rights in Cambodia and President Donald Trump’s cuts to U.S. international help, Western attire corporations have an crucial to talk up in Cambodia.

“Nike and different manufacturers sourcing from Cambodia have an curiosity in making certain that organizations like CENTRAL live on and may discuss labor rights points,” Lau mentioned.

Khun, the CENTRAL staffer, mentioned he knew the Nike worker who targeted on company social accountability in Cambodia, however he mentioned she left the corporate throughout the final yr. Khun mentioned he didn’t know whether or not anybody had changed her. (She didn’t reply to ProPublica, and Nike didn’t reply to questions on her departure.)

CENTRAL this yr confronted a brand new authorities downside. When Trump began to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development in January, CENTRAL and two different teams acquired discover that they have been shedding $1.5 million in funding promised for a undertaking supposed to doc human rights violations and counter Cambodia’s repression.

Lower than two months later, the Trump administration tried to intestine Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, a few of the solely information sources accessible in Cambodia’s native language that reported on the nation’s authoritarian flip. Former Prime Minister Hun Sen praised Trump’s “courage,” posting a picture from 2017 of the 2 males shaking arms and smiling.

Trump was giving a thumbs up.