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Workers at Nike shoe factories make about 20 cents an hour or $1.60 per day, and its factory wages are the lowest in Vietnam among foreign-owned factories (Boycott Nike). Meanwhile, the average cost of three meals a day in that particular area is $2, and the cost of living (housing, clothing, education, energy, etc.) is $3 (48 Hours). All Nike employees receive $37 dollars a month during their first three months on the job, $9 below Vietnamese minimum wage. Many sweatshop laborers are forced to skip meals or borrow from family members (48 Hours).
There have been numerous accounts of physical abuse at these factories. Fifteen Vietnamese women were reportedly hit over the head by their supervisor for poor sewing, sending two to the hospital (48 Hours). Though Nike claims disciplinary actions were taken, C.E.O. Phil Knight had downplayed these situations, saying only one female worker was struck on the arm. In another Nike-operated factory, forty-five women were forced to kneel for twenty-five minutes with their hands in the air. One hundred workers at a factory in Dong Nai were forced to stand in the sun for spilling a tray full of fruit on an altar being used by three supervisors. One employee left after eighteen minutes, whereupon he was fired. Only after intervention by a local labor federation was he offered his position back, a position he declined. Another case at that same factory, located in Pouchen, involved 56 women forced to run around the grounds on International Women's Day, a holiday in which Vietnamese women are honored. Twelve needed to be taken to the hospital by friends (48 Hours).
Cases of abuse in Nike factories overseas have also been sexual. A plant supervisor fled Vietnam after being accused of molesting workers. Women workers have complained of constant sexual harassment from foreign supervisors. In broad daylight, these supervisors would attempt to grab the buttocks or chest of female workers.