'Not responsive': Investors doubling down on workers' rights at Nike ahead of AGM

It comes as Glass Lewis opposes resolution filed at apparel giant in response to alleged controversies in Cambodia and Thailand.

By Gina Gambetta, August 28, 2024

Investors behind a workers' rights proposal set to go to the vote at Nike next month say it is a necessary escalation, but proxy adviser Glass Lewis sides with the company. In recent years, investors - and civil society organisations - have increasingly been putting the apparel giant under the microscope over worker rights, particularly regarding alleged controversies in Cambodia and Thailand. The controversy in Cambodia centres around a supplier of Nike, the Ramatex allegedly failing to pay compensation to 1,284 workers at its factory, Violet Apparel, when it suddenly shut in June 2020. Cambodia's Arbitration Council ruled in favour of Ramatex on the issue of damages but declined to rule on the issue of compensation.

It is a similar situation in Thailand where at the Hong Seng Knitting factory, workers were allegedly not paid legally owed partial wages during a factory shutdown during the covid pandemic in 2020. Nike did not reply to a request for comment. The company told Bloomberg Law in 2023 it conducted independent investigations into the 2020 allegations and found no evidence to support claims in Cambodia, and that an independent investigation and legal review found workers in Thailand were compensated in accordance with local law and Nike's code of conduct.

Nike did not reply to a request for comment. The company told Bloomberg Law in 2023 it conducted independent investigations into the 2020 allegations and found no evidence to support claims in Cambodia, and that an independent investigation and legal review found workers in Thailand were compensated in accordance with local law and Nike's code of conduct.

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