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Nike fines Vietnam venture for producing sex toys
Reuters Story - October 13, 1997 08:59
%VN %EMRG %ODD %TW %TEX %NEWS %US NKE V%REUTER P%RTR
HANOI, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Nike Inc has fined a
joint-venture plant in Vietnam $5,000 after a supervisor ordered
workers to produce 51 rubber penises, an official at the plant
said on Monday.
The first 36 "dildos" came to light when they were presented
to a company official as a birthday present in June. Disgusted,
he threw them into a rubbish bin.
The management of the Taiwanese Pou Chen venture, which is
based north of Ho Chi Minh City, immediately ordered a halt to
production of the offending items.
The company official, who declined to be identified, said
five Vietnamese workers later stole the penis mould and tried to
blackmail Pou Chen managers, but were arrested and charged by
local police.
He said Nike had fined the plant $5,000. Officials at the
sportswear firm's regional head office in Hong Kong were not
available to comment.
Nike officials were quoted by a domestic newspaper as saying
managers involved were also punished with salary cuts.
Pou Chen, which employs 10,500 workers to make Nike shoes,
was embroiled in controversy earlier this year when a supervisor
made 56 workers jog twice around the factory perimeter for
failing to wear regulation footwear.
The supervisor, a Taiwanese woman, was jailed for six
months.
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