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NikeTown visited by Santa & his helpers (Full Story +Photo)

Ivan Agenda Photos by Ian Hunter | 19.12.2000 22:02

Sunday saw an early appearence from Santa and his exploited little helpers, as anti-sweatshop campaigners dressed in green outfits descended on Niketown in Oxford Circus with a giant Nike shoe and some squeaky hammers as street theatre with a message was performed to the hurrying christmas crowd.

NikeTown visited by Santa & his helpers (Full Story +Photo)
NikeTown visited by Santa & his helpers (Full Story +Photo)


At 2pm a green banner was pinned to some boardings stating "No Sweatshops Just Do Them." Shoppers looked on in amazement, as the little helpers shouted out various statements such as "Why do you pay Tiger Woods $100million over 5 years and yet pay us only a $1 dollar a day." Santa the boss then replied "Because he's a skilled worker." or "When can I go home?" which got a reply of "Quiet you've got 14 more hours to go and then you've got forced overtime." referring to the employment practices of the sweatshops.

Although the protest was light hearted, the serious words were to be found on the leaflets given out to passers by as security men from Nike stood and watched. Inside it stated ' Giant corporations like Nike and Gap roam the world looking for the countries with the lowest wages and least human rights.' Addidas which produces it's goods in Burma and Gap in Cambodia are also in the line of fire. According to Joy one of the organisers "We're here to put pressure on companies like Nike to introduce unions into the sweatshops and to get them to disclose their factory locations. We don't want to tell people what to wear, we want to let them know about the sweatshops behind the logos") Nike has been accused by many pressure groups of being anti union and recently lived up to that accusation by halting a donation to the university of Oregon in the U.S.A. because of the university's membership in a student-driven labor rights organization Workers Rights Consortium that has criticized Nike. Phil Knight the founder and Chief
Executive of Nike said "With this move the university inserted itself into the new global economy where I make my living. And inserted itself on the wrong side." Gap had profits of $1.1 billion in 1999 and Nike the market leader is worth approx $6 billion.

Ivan Agenda Photos by Ian Hunter

Comments

Display the following 4 comments

  1. No Nike — Mike Bluett
  2. consumer boycotts or campaigning? — Revolution
  3. RE: Niketown January Sale — The_Chaotic_1
  4. Anti-Nike shirts — Rousie Rouse