Converse is getting global press heat for the way its Indonesian contractor Pou Chen Group treats its workers, according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Workers making Converse sneakers in Indonesia say supervisors throw shoes at them, slap them in the face and call them dogs and pigs. . . One worker there said she was kicked by a supervisor last year after making a mistake while cutting rubber for soles. . . “We’re powerless,” said the woman, who like several others spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals. “Our only choice is to stay and suffer, or speak out and be fired.”
While Nike has reportedly worked to tidy up their sweat-shop footwear production (where workers earn 50 cents a day), it appears that corporate profits remain their number one priority, even if it means dumping “heavy metals and hazardous, hormone-disrupting substances” into the rivers of China.
[Link: San Francisco Chronicle and Reuters]
