About the Swoosh

On Tuesday night, Keady, director of the New Jersey-based nonprofit Educating for Justice, Inc., did his best to fit his sling with information instead. Keady began his January 19 Charles Wantman Family State of the World lecture by showing the film “Behind the Swoosh,” his documentary on the living conditions of Nike factory workers in Tangerang, Indonesia.

 

From the Raymond Hall podium, Keady then broke down numbers: Nike profits in 2009 ($19.2 billion), the number of Nike workers (1 million in 1,000 factories in 52 countries), and the wholesale costs for producing a sneaker ($16.27, of which workers received $2.43, Keady said).

 

“Labor is not a commodity, like materials,” said Keady, “It’s not overhead. It’s people.”

 

Keady’s said that the current low wages kept workers in poverty, forced them to take on overtime in order to make enough to eat, and was ruinous to local cultures and economies. Keady, who had himself tried living on a $1.25 per day wage in Indonesia, said that when campaigns by such groups as Educating for Justice began to grab media attention, Nike did not fix the problem so much as engage in a prolonged campaign to reburnish their tarnished image.

 

Keady, who has been spent 12 years advocating for living wages for factory workers in Indonesia, said he wanted Indonesian workers to receive living wages and be able to have collective bargaining agreements with factory owners and parent corporations. Although Educating for Justice had made small gains, Keady said there was a still a long way to go and urged students to get involved.

 

Toward the end of his talk, Keady flipped to a slide of the NMH logo surmounted with the Nike symbol and the audience gasped. He said he had taken the picture while walking through the school bookstore and urged students to think about what they were wearing and buying.

 

Not all of the students were convinced. “Aren’t you taking stuff out of context in order to make this presentation?” asked one, to which Keady responded that he’d be happy to provide more information, such as transcripts of interviews he had quoted.

 

Keady said that, when it came to fighting for rights and living wages for Nike factory workers, activists had won the first round and lost the second round.

 

“I’m inviting you,” he said, “to put on your gloves for round three.”