The Noble Feat of Nike

Erik Johnson
English 250 FD
Mr. Perez
April 23, 2009

“Nike. It means victory.” Nike, the athletic shoe giant, is brought up in many outsourcing debates around the world. Nike is one of the largest companies to kick most if not all of its western workers out of their jobs and then move those jobs overseas. Then to sell those shoes for one hundred times more than the pay of the sweetshop workers that made them. But what if someone were to tell you that Nike was doing good in the world?
Johan Norberg’s article addresses the misconception about Nike. Nike has four times the workers in Vietnam than in the U.S. Norberg traveled to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam to investigate Nike from the workers perspective. He says that the work looks tough if we compare Vietnamese factories to what we have in America. But the workers do not mind. They compare their work in the Nike factory to what they did before. Working in an air conditioned factory from nine to five is much more appealing than working out in the sweltering heat, the harsh sun, and insects in your face for fourteen hours. The workers earn three times the Vietnamese national minimum wage on top of that. Norberg states that most important things that Nike factory workers receive are job security, a regular wage, subsidized meals, free medical services, training and education. But, Norberg states, that Nike and companies like it do not do these things because they are generous. They do it because their investments bring in new equipment, new management skills and production ideas, a larger market, and education of their workers. All of this raises productivity for the company. Norberg jokes that it is hard to call this exploitation with these types of investments in countries like Vietnam. Because of these investments made by these companies the countries exports have doubled and the poverty is half of what it was. Norberg interviewed a Vietnamese worker and asked her what hopes she had for her son’s future. A generation ago she would have had to put him to work on the farm at an early age. But instead she stated that she wants to give him a good education, so that he will become a doctor. In the last ten years child labor has is almost non-existent now that families are able to send their children to school instead of the fields. So if you are an anit-globalist then go ahead and protest but know that you are protesting a better present and future for third world countries.